The chart above shows the per capita annualized nominal gross domestic product (GDP) in each EU and US state as of the second quarter of 2020 in dollars, the change from the previous quarter, and the GDP one year prior. Every single state's per capita GDP contracted over the past quarter and the past year.
Findings
- The difference between the state with the largest per capita GDP, Luxembourg, and the state with the smallest, Bulgaria, is $122,429.15 (down from $128,144.40 last quarter and down from $129,403.93 last year). Luxembourg and Bulgaria had the largest and smallest per capita GDP respectively both last quarter and last year.
- Luxembourg has 15.47 times the per capita GDP that Bulgaria does. The ratio of largest per capita GDP to smallest per capita GDP was up from 14.84 last quarter and up from 14.98 last year.
- The median per capita GDP in the 28 EU states is $23,887.15 (down from $28,401.72 last quarter and down from $29,517.14 last year) and the mean $33,319.35 (down from $36,785.63 the previous quarter and down from $37,459.52 last year).
- The median per capita GDP in the 50 US states is $57,227.97 (down from $63,336.46 last quarter and down from $62,664.88 last year) and the mean $58,540.03 (down from $64,860.75 the previous quarter and down from $64,333.38 last year).
- The median per capita GDP in the 78 EU and US states is $50,754.21 (down from $55,607.21 last quarter and down from $56,226.35 last year) and the mean $49,486.46 (down from $54,782.50 the previous quarter and down from $54,686.35 last year).
- Seventy-eight states (28 EU, 50 US) saw their per capita GDP contract in current dollars from the previous quarter.
- Seventy-eight states (28 EU, 50 US) saw their per capita GDP contract in current dollars from last year.
- No EU drops in GDP are attributed to currency rate fluctuations.
Caveats
- GDP data is from the second quarter of 2019, the first quarter of 2020, and the second quarter of 2020.
- 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 1.12 for the second quarter of 2019, 1.10 for the first quarter of 2020, and 1.10 for the second quarter of 2020 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, Alaska had the worst performance over the previous quarter with a drop of $10,165.70. Ireland had the best performance with a drop of $793.97. Year over year, Wyoming had the worst performance with a drop of $12,540.58 while Bulgaria had the best performance with a drop of $791.49.
In relative terms, Croatia had the worst performance over the previous quarter with a 18.18% drop in per capita GDP while Finland had the best performance with a 4.57% drop in per capita GDP. Year over year, Spain had the worst performance with a 22.16% drop in per capita GDP while Ireland had the best performance with a 3.37% drop in per capita GDP.
The number of states with a per capita GDP of over $75,000 was 11 last year, 10 the previous quarter, and seven this past quarter. Conversely, the number of states with a per capita GDP of less than $50,000 was 26 last year, 27 the previous quarter, and 39 this past quarter.
Utah (from 17th largest per capita GDP to 12th largest) and Finland (from 53rd to 48th) each surpassed five states over the previous quarter. Alaska (from 12th to 18th) was surpassed by six states. Year over year, Utah (from 20th to 12th) bested eight states. On the flip side, Wyoming (16th to 25th) was bested by nine states.
Four EU states overcame 12 US states over the previous quarter and four EU states overcame six US states over the same quarter last year. Meanwhile, two US states surpassed two EU states over the previous quarter and seven US states surpassed six EU states over the same quarter last year.
Sources
Eurostat. 2020. "GDP and Main Components." Accessed October 15, 2020. https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?query=BOOKMARK_DS-406779_QID_75E42079_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 October 16, 2020. https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g5/.
US Bureau of Economic Analysis. 2020. "GDP by State." Accessed October 14, 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.