The chart above shows the per capita annualized nominal gross domestic product (GDP) in each EU and US state as of the first quarter of 2019 in dollars, the change from the previous quarter, and the GDP one year 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 $124,180.72 (down from $124,584.69 last quarter and down from $129,612.89 last year). Luxembourg and Bulgaria had the largest and smallest per capita GDP respectively both last quarter and last year.
- Luxembourg has 14.56 times the per capita GDP that Bulgaria does. The ratio of largest per capita GDP to smallest per capita GDP was down from 15.38 last quarter and down from 15.51 last year.
- The median per capita GDP in the 28 EU states is $29,498.28 (up from $29,132.53 last quarter and down from $30,675.83 last year) and the mean $37,195.93 (up from $36,778.87 the previous quarter and down from $38,547.83 last year).
- The median per capita GDP in the 50 US states is $62,283.54 (up from $61,766.77 last quarter and up from $59,285.54 last year) and the mean $63,542.67 (up from $63,032.06 the previous quarter and up from $60,638.96 last year).
- The median per capita GDP in the 78 EU and US states is $56,447.27 (up from $55,960.09 last quarter and up from $55,158.18 last year) and the mean $54,084.86 (up from $53,607.84 the previous quarter and up from $52,708.81 last year).
- Seventy-four states (28 EU, 46 US) saw their per capita GDP rise in current dollars from the previous quarter while four saw their per capita GDP drop (all from the US).
- Fifty-three states (3 EU, 50 US) saw their per capita GDP rise in current dollars from last year while 25 saw it drop (all from the EU).
- All EU drops in per capita GDP are attributed to currency rate fluctuations.
Caveats
- GDP data is from the first quarter of 2019, the fourth quarter of 2018, and the first quarter of 2018.
- US census data is from 2010, EU census data is from 2011.
- The data is seasonally adjusted in current dollars.
- Euros are converted to dollars at an average exchange rate of 1.14 for the first quarter of 2019, 1.14 for the fourth quarter of 2018, and 1.23 for the first quarter of 2018 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, Wyoming saw the largest decrease over the previous quarter with a drop of $836.20. Ireland had the largest growth with a gain of $2,025.97. Year over year, Luxembourg had the largest decrease with a drop of $5,208.29 while Washington had the greatest increase with a gain of $5,604.31.
In relative terms, Wyoming had the largest decrease over the previous quarter with a 1.18% drop in per capita GDP while Bulgaria had the greatest increase with a 5.71% rise in per capita GDP. Year over year, Sweden had the largest contraction with a 7.06% drop in per capita GDP while Washington had the largest growth with a 6.90% rise in per capita GDP.
The number of states with a per capita GDP of over $80,000 increased from six last year to eight this past quarter. Conversely, the number of states with a per capita GDP of less than $50,000 went from 30 last year to 29 the previous quarter and to 28 this past quarter.
The Netherlands surpassed two states (Oklahoma and Missouri) going from 45th highest per capita GDP to 43rd highest in this past quarter. Six other states surpassed one state each: Ireland (from 7th to 6th), New Jersey (14th to 13th), Minnesota (16th to 15th), Florida (39th to 38th), Maine (52nd to 51st), and the United Kingdom (58th to 57th). Oklahoma was surpassed by two states (the Netherlands and Missouri) and went from 43rd highest per capita GDP to 45th highest. Six states were bested by one state each: North Dakota (6th to 7th), Texas (13th to 14th), Wyoming (15th to 16th), Louisiana (38th to 39th), New Mexico (51st to 52nd), and Arkansas (57th to 58th). Year over year, Tennessee (from 38th to 34th) and Idaho (from 52nd to 48th) each bested four states. Georgia (30th to 27th), Ohio (35th to 32nd), Indiana (39th to 36th), Florida (41st to 38th), Arizona (43rd to 40th), Michigan (45th to 42nd), Missouri (47th to 44th), South Carolina (50th to 47th), and New Mexico (55th to 52nd) each bested three states, while Washington (6th to 4th), Utah (23rd to 21st), Oregon (26th to 24th), Pennsylvania (27th to 25th), Nevada (28th to 26th), North Carolina (32nd to 30th), Montana (51st to 49th), and Maine (53rd to 51st) each bested two. Sixteen states surpassed one state each: Massachusetts (3rd to 2nd), New York (4th to 3rd), Minnesota (16th to 15th), Illinois (19th to 18th), South Dakota (24th to 23rd), Kansas (34th to 33rd), Louisiana (40th to 39th), Vermont (42nd to 41st), Oklahoma (46th to 45th), Kentucky (54th to 53rd), Alabama (57th to 56th), Arkansas (59th to 58th), West Virginia (60th to 59th), Malta (63rd to 62nd), Estonia (69th to 68th), and Slovakia (71st to 70th). On the flip side, Sweden was bested by 12 states and went from having the 25th highest per capita GDP to the 37th highest. Austria was bested by nine and went from 37th to 46th, while the Netherlands (36th to 43rd) and Denmark (21st to 28th) each fell seven spots. Finland (44th to 50th), Germany (48th to 54th), and Belgium (49th to 55th) each fell six spots. Ireland (2nd to 6th) was bested by four states. Rhode Island (33rd to 35th) and France (58th to 60th) were each bested by two. Six states were each surpassed by one: Wyoming (15th to 16th), Nebraska (18th to 19th), the United Kingdom (56th to 57th), Italy (62nd to 63rd), Portugal (68th to 69th), and Greece (70th to 71st).
No US states surpassed any EU states over the quarter but no EU states surpassed any US states year-over-year. Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, and North Dakota were surpassed by EU states over the past quarter while France, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany, Finland, Austria, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, and Ireland were all surpassed by US states from last year. This disparity is partially due to the rise of the dollar against the euro over the course of the past year.
Sources
Eurostat. 2019. "GDP and Main Components." Accessed August 19, 2019. https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?query=BOOKMARK_DS-406779_QID_-64A128D_UID_-3F171EB0&layout=TIME,C,X,0;GEO,L,Y,0;UNIT,L,Z,0;S_ADJ,L,Z,1;NA_ITEM,L,Z,2;INDICATORS,C,Z,3;&zSelection=DS-406779UNIT,CP_MEUR;DS-406779INDICATORS,OBS_FLAG;DS-406779S_ADJ,SCA;DS-406779NA_ITEM,B1GQ;&rankName1=UNIT_1_2_-1_2&rankName2=INDICATORS_1_2_-1_2&rankName3=NA-ITEM_1_2_-1_2&rankName4=S-ADJ_1_2_-1_2&rankName5=TIME_1_0_0_0&rankName6=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.
Eurostat. 2017. "Population on 1 January by Age Groups and Sex - Functional Urban Areas." Accessed December 11, 2017. http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?dataset=urb_lpop1&lang=en.
Federal Reserve. 2019. "Foreign Exchange Rates." Accessed August 20, 2019. https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g5/.
US Bureau of Economic Analysis. 2019. "GDP by State." Accessed August 18, 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.