The chart above shows the per capita annualized nominal gross domestic product (GDP) in each EU and US state as of the fourth quarter of 2018 in dollars, the change from five years ago, and the GDP ten years prior. Luxembourg is in a class all by itself.
Findings
- The difference between the state with the largest per capita GDP, Luxembourg, and the state with the smallest, Bulgaria, is $124,716.54 (up from $118,295.24 five years ago and up from $105,239.75 ten years ago). Luxembourg and Bulgaria had the largest and smallest per capita GDP respectively both five and ten years ago.
- Luxembourg has 15.39 times the per capita GDP that Bulgaria does. The ratio of largest per capita GDP to smallest per capita GDP was down from 16.06 five years ago and down from 17.98 ten years ago.
- The median per capita GDP in the 28 EU states is $29,133 (up from $27,194 five years ago and down from $32,549 ten years ago) and the mean $36,779 (up from $35,447 five years ago and up from $33,594 ten years ago).
- The median per capita GDP in the 50 US states is $61,767 (up from $50,573 five years ago and up from $47,674 ten years ago) and the mean $63,032 (up from $52,978 five years ago and up from $50,313 ten years ago).
- The median per capita GDP in the 78 EU and US states is $55,960 (up from $48,724 five years ago and up from $45,883 ten years ago) and the mean $53,608 (up from $46,695 five years ago and up from $44,311 ten years ago).
- Sixty-four states (15 EU, 49 US) saw their per capita GDP rise in current dollars over the past five years while 14 (13 EU, 1 US) saw their per capita GDP drop.
- Sixty-eight states (21 EU, 47 US) saw their per capita GDP rise in current dollars over the past ten years while ten (7 EU, 3 US) saw it drop.
- All EU drops in per capita GDP, save for Cyprus's, Greece's, and Spain's ten-year drops are attributed to currency rate fluctuations.
Caveats
- GDP data is from the fourth quarter of 2018, 2013, and 2008.
- US census data is from 2000 and 2010, EU census data is from 2001 and 2011.
- The data is seasonally adjusted in current dollars.
- Euros are converted to dollars at an average exchange rate of 1.14 for the fourth quarter of 2018, 1.36 for the fourth quarter of 2013, and 1.32 for the fourth quarter of 2008 according to historic rates listed at the Federal Reserve (see source link below).
- US data comes in an annualized format which the EU does not, thus EU data is annualized by multiplying the quarterly figure by four.
- US growth rates may differ from those provided by the Bureau of Economic Analysis as the BEA's growth rates are based on chained dollars in conjunction with the chain index or the quality index for real GDP. The growth rates listed here are based on nominal GDP.
- All figures are rounded to the nearest hundredth.
Details
In absolute terms, Sweden saw the largest decrease over the past five years with a drop of $5,238.31. Ireland had the largest growth with a gain of $27,097.58. Over the past ten years, Wyoming had the largest decrease with a drop of $12,797.59 while North Dakota had the greatest increase with a gain of $33,234.57.
In relative terms, Greece had the largest decrease over the past five years with a 12.07% drop in per capita GDP while Ireland had the greatest increase with a 50.21% rise in per capita GDP. Over the past ten years, Greece had the largest contraction with a 34.99% drop in per capita GDP while North Dakota had the largest growth with a 67.12% rise in per capita GDP.
There were three states (1 EU, 2 US) with a per capita GDP of over $80,000 ten years ago, 2 states (1 EU, 1 US) five years ago, and 8 states (2 EU, 6 US) now. On the flip side, there were 55 states (24 EU, 31 US) with a GDP of less than $50,000 ten years ago, 45 states (21 EU, 24 US) five years ago, and 28 states (21 EU, 7 US) now.
Oregon moved up the most spots in rank (19) going from having the 43rd highest per capita GDP five years ago to the 24th highest now. Conversely, Sweden fell the most spots in rank (25) by going from having the 12th largest per capita GDP to the 37th. Over the past ten years, North Dakota rose the most in rank (19 spots) going from having the 25th largest per capita GDP to the 6th now, while the Netherlands dropped the most spots (26) going from having the 19th largest per capita GDP to the 45th.
Ireland was the only EU state to surpass any US states, 14 in total, over the past five years. However, 10 EU states were surpassed by a multitude of US states in the same time period. Over the past ten years, Sweden and Ireland were the only two EU states to surpass US states while 13 EU states were surpassed by a plethora of US states. This disparity is partially due to the rise of the dollar against the euro both over the course of the past five years and the past ten years.
Sources
Eurostat. 2017. "Population change - Demographic balance and crude rates at national level." Accessed December 11, 2017. http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?query=BOOKMARK_DS-054722_QID_690C8C0A_UID_-3F171EB0&layout=TIME,C,X,0;GEO,L,Y,0;INDIC_DE,L,Z,0;INDICATORS,C,Z,1;&zSelection=DS-054722INDICATORS,OBS_FLAG;DS-054722INDIC_DE,JAN;&rankName1=INDICATORS_1_2_-1_2&rankName2=INDIC-DE_1_2_-1_2&rankName3=TIME_1_0_0_0&rankName4=GEO_1_2_0_1&sortC=ASC_-1_FIRST&rStp=&cStp=&rDCh=&cDCh=&rDM=true&cDM=true&footnes=false&empty=false&wai=false&time_mode=NONE&time_most_recent=false&lang=EN&cfo=%23%23%23%2C%23%23%23.%23%23%23.
Federal Reserve. 2019. "Foreign Exchange Rates." Accessed May 26, 2019. https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g5/.
US Bureau of Economic Analysis. 2019. "GDP by State." Accessed May 22, 2019. https://www.bea.gov/data/gdp/gdp-state.
United States Census Bureau. September 2012. "United States Summary: 2010: Population and Housing Unit Counts." Accessed January 23, 2018. https://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/cph-2-1.pdf.