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 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 $130,585.07 (up from $130,230.81 last quarter and up from $126,354.27 last year). Luxembourg and Bulgaria had the largest and smallest per capita GDP respectively both last quarter and last year.
- Luxembourg has 15.05 times the per capita GDP that Bulgaria does. The ratio of largest per capita GDP to smallest per capita GDP was down from 15.40 last quarter and down from 15.27 last year.
- The median per capita GDP in the 28 EU states is $29,627.90 (up from $29,382.08 last quarter and up from $29,355.51 last year) and the mean $37,626.45 (up from $37,259.36 the previous quarter and up from $37,053.79 last year).
- The median per capita GDP in the 50 US states is $63,724.57 (up from $63,230.45 last quarter and up from $61,569.65 last year) and the mean $65,385.74 (up from $64,851.61 the previous quarter and up from $63,128.73 last year).
- The median per capita GDP in the 78 EU and US states is $57,323.00 (up from $56,775.09 last quarter and up from $55,878.57 last year) and the mean $55,420.86 (up from $54,946.70 the previous quarter and up from $53,768.50 last year).
- Seventy-six states (26 EU, 50 US) saw their per capita GDP rise in current dollars from the previous quarter while two saw their per capita GDP drop (2 EU, 0 US).
- Sixty-nine states (20 EU, 49 US) saw their per capita GDP rise in current dollars from last year while nine saw it drop (8 EU, 1 US).
- All EU drops in GDP, except for Finland's and Greece's quarterly drop and Sweden's annual drop, are attributed to currency rate fluctuations.
Caveats
- GDP data is from the fourth quarter of 2019, the third quarter of 2019, and the fourth 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 1.11 for the fourth quarter of 2019, 1.11 for the third quarter of 2019, and 1.14 for the fourth 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, Greece saw the largest decrease over the previous quarter with a drop of $158.54. The United Kingdom had the largest growth with a gain of $2,140.53. Year over year, Sweden had the largest decrease with a drop of $1,590.81 while Washington had the greatest increase with a gain of $4,893.55.
In relative terms, Greece had the largest decrease over the previous quarter with a 0.85% drop in per capita GDP while the United Kingdom had the greatest increase with a 4.92% rise in per capita GDP. Year over year, Sweden had the largest contraction with a 2.75% drop in per capita GDP while Romania had the largest growth with a 6.40% rise in per capita GDP.
The number of states with a per capita GDP of over $75,000 was 11 last year, 12 the previous quarter, and 13 this past quarter. Conversely, the number of states with a per capita GDP of less than $50,000 was 28 last year, 27 the previous quarter, and 26 this past quarter.
Washington (from 4th largest per capita GDP to 3rd largest), California (from 7th to 6th), Colorado (from 11th to 10th), Illinois (from 18th to 17th), Nebraska (from 19th to 18th), Iowa (from 29th to 28th), Louisiana (from 38th to 37th), Sweden (from 42nd to 41st), and Kentucky (from 53rd to 52nd) each surpassed one state over the previous quarter. Wyoming (from 17th to 19th) was surpassed by two states. Year over year, Vermont (from 45th to 40th) bested five states. On the flip side, Sweden (36th to 41st) was bested by five states.
One EU state overcame one US state over the previous quarter and one EU state overcame three US states over the same quarter last year. Meanwhile, two US states surpassed two EU states over the previous quarter and 15 US states surpassed seven EU states over the same quarter 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. 2020. "GDP and Main Components." Accessed April 22, 2020. https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?query=BOOKMARK_DS-406779_QID_265259FB_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. 2020. "Foreign Exchange Rates." Accessed April 23, 2020. https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g5/.
US Bureau of Economic Analysis. 2020. "GDP by State." Accessed April 21, 2020. 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.