The United States' Borders Based on Per Capita GDP

Nov 17, 2017
Cartogram map of per capita GDP in the United States

The geographically accurate cartogram above represents the states' boundaries based on per capita GDP.  In this metric, all 50 states have similar areas as there is not much fluctuation from state to state.

Findings

  • Rhode Island gains the most territory percentage-wise as it grows by 4,725 percent.
  • Delaware gains the most land.
  • Alaska shrinks the most in both relative and absolute terms losing 93 percent of its territory.
  • Mississippi becomes the smallest state in the Union while Massachusetts becomes the largest state in the Union.

Caveats

  • The GDP data is from 2016.
  • The borders represent the area of the state if it were based on GDP.  The location of the states on the map is irrelevant.

Details

Several states grow to more than twice their size including (in descending order of growth) Rhode Island, Delaware, Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Maryland, New Hampshire, and Vermont.

The states that cede more than half of their territory are (in descending order of growth) Nevada, Idaho, California, New Mexico, Arizona, Montana, Texas, and Alaska.

The map shows that intrastate inequality is quite small when measured by the per capita GDP metric which is quite impressive considering how certain major industries are concentrated in a few key states.

Data

StatePer Capita GDPExisting Area (sq km)Projected Area (based on per capita GDP)Percent Change in Area
Massachusetts65,54528,731253,259781
New York64,579173,574249,47444
Connecticut64,51117,311249,4651,341
Alaska63,9713,494,728246,690-93
Delaware63,6646,711245,7503,562
North Dakota62,837270,639242,978-10
Wyoming58,821346,628227,028-34
California58,619516,352226,124-56
New Jersey57,08426,405220,545735
Washington56,831258,988219,598-15
Maryland55,40434,354213,947523
Illinois54,091190,941209,31910
Minnesota53,704316,470207,442-34
Texas53,795809,540207,409-74
Nebraska53,114267,846204,649-24
Colorado52,795347,462201,714-42
Virginia51,736132,418199,99551
New Hampshire51,79433,255199,970501
Hawaii51,27717,947198,0841,004
Pennsylvania50,997155,346197,20627
Oregon50,582349,188195,301-44
Iowa50,315196,503194,366-1
South Dakota48,076279,790185,937-34
Ohio47,567140,276184,06731
Rhode Island47,6393,814184,0294,725
Wisconsin47,266204,348182,187-11
Kansas46,982272,678181,313-34
Indiana45,317122,349174,74043
Georgia44,723181,772172,816-5
Oklahoma44,623223,118171,926-23
Utah44,636284,705171,918-40
North Carolina44,325158,397170,9818
Vermont43,94634,672170,051390
Nevada43,820371,012169,149-54
Louisiana43,917143,056169,13318
Michigan43,372211,349167,263-21
Missouri43,317230,683167,260-27
Tennessee43,267134,940167,21124
New Mexico41,348382,825159,764-58
Florida39,543172,681152,361-12
Montana39,356558,614152,348-73
Maine38,921120,862150,46724
Kentucky38,985132,204150,41314
Arizona38,590358,367148,547-59
Alabama37,261159,756143,912-10
South Carolina37,06397,356143,00947
West Virginia36,31580,471140,13074
Arkansas36,368168,351140,122-17
Idaho35,466303,070137,409-55
Mississippi31,881147,284123,317-16

Sources

US Bureau of Economic Analysis.  2017.  "Regional Data."  Accessed October 26, 2017.  https://bea.gov/itable/iTable.cfm?ReqID=70&step=1#reqid=70&step=1&isuri=1.

Filed under: Projecting Power