Markets
Animation: The 20 Largest State Economies by GDP in the Last 50 Years
Animation: The 20 Largest State Economies by GDP
When it comes to understanding the size and scope of the $18 trillion U.S. economy, it’s sometimes easier to consider that it’s the sum of many parts.
Many states already have economies that are comparable to some of the world’s largest countries, giving you a sense of what they might be combined.
And while every state plays a role in the bigger picture, some states such as New York and California have an outsized impact on fueling the country’s overall economic engine.
The State of State Economies
Today’s animation comes to us from SavingSpot, and it covers the size of state economies by GDP going back all the way to 1963.
The video uses inflation-adjusted data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, showing how the ranking of top state economies has changed over time as different states have taken advantage of economic booms.
Let’s dive into the data to see how things have changed.
Going Back in Time
The earliest data in the animation comes from 1963, when New York led the pack with a $70.6 billion economy in inflation-adjusted terms.
State Economies by GDP, Inflation-Adjusted Chained $USD (1963)
Rank | State Economy | GDP, Billions of USD (1963) | Share of U.S. Economy |
---|---|---|---|
#1 | New York | $70.6 | 11.6% |
#2 | California | $67.8 | 11.2% |
#3 | Illinois | $39.5 | 6.5% |
#4 | Pennsylvania | $34.5 | 5.7% |
#5 | Ohio | $33.3 | 5.5% |
#6 | Michigan | $30.5 | 5.0% |
#7 | Texas | $29.3 | 4.8% |
#8 | New Jersey | $23.4 | 3.9% |
#9 | Massachusetts | $17.4 | 2.9% |
#10 | Indiana | $15.6 | 2.6% |
#11 | Florida | $14.7 | 2.4% |
#12 | Missouri | $13.6 | 2.2% |
#13 | Wisconsin | $12.7 | 2.1% |
#14 | North Carolina | $12.6 | 2.1% |
#15 | Virginia | $11.7 | 1.9% |
#16 | Washington | $11.2 | 1.8% |
#17 | Minnesota | $10.7 | 1.8% |
#18 | Georgia | $10.3 | 1.7% |
#19 | Maryland | $10.3 | 1.7% |
#20 | Connecticut | $9.9 | 1.6% |
#21 | Louisiana | $9.7 | 1.6% |
#22 | Tennessee | $9.1 | 1.5% |
#23 | Kentucky | $8.4 | 1.4% |
#24 | Iowa | $7.9 | 1.3% |
#25 | Alabama | $7.3 | 1.2% |
#26 | Oklahoma | $6.2 | 1.0% |
#27 | Kansas | $6.1 | 1.0% |
#28 | Colorado | $5.9 | 1.0% |
#29 | Oregon | $5.7 | 0.9% |
#30 | District of Columbia | $5.1 | 0.8% |
#31 | South Carolina | $5.1 | 0.8% |
#32 | West Virginia | $4.6 | 0.8% |
#33 | Arizona | $4.5 | 0.7% |
#34 | Mississippi | $4.4 | 0.7% |
#35 | Nebraska | $4.3 | 0.7% |
#36 | Arkansas | $3.8 | 0.6% |
#37 | New Mexico | $3.0 | 0.5% |
#38 | Utah | $3.0 | 0.5% |
#39 | Rhode Island | $2.7 | 0.4% |
#40 | Maine | $2.4 | 0.4% |
#41 | Hawaii | $2.4 | 0.4% |
#42 | Montana | $2.0 | 0.3% |
#43 | Delaware | $1.9 | 0.3% |
#44 | Idaho | $1.8 | 0.3% |
#45 | Nevada | $1.8 | 0.3% |
#46 | New Hampshire | $1.7 | 0.3% |
#47 | North Dakota | $1.6 | 0.3% |
#48 | South Dakota | $1.6 | 0.3% |
#49 | Wyoming | $1.4 | 0.2% |
#50 | Alaska | $1.1 | 0.2% |
#51 | Vermont | $1.0 | 0.2% |
🇺🇸 United States (Total) | $607.0 | 100.0% |
California ($67.8 billion), Illinois ($39.5 billion), Pennsylvania ($34.5 billion) and Ohio ($33.3 billion) round out the top five, and together they added up to 40.5% of the national GDP.
The Largest State Economies by GDP Today
Looking at the most recent data from 2017, you can see the ranking changes significantly:
State Economies by GDP, Inflation-Adjusted Chained $USD (2017)
Rank | State Economy | GDP, Billions of USD (2017) | Share of U.S. Economy |
---|---|---|---|
#1 | California | $2,576 | 14.3% |
#2 | Texas | $1,616 | 9.0% |
#3 | New York | $1,414 | 7.8% |
#4 | Florida | $883 | 4.9% |
#5 | Illinois | $745 | 4.1% |
#6 | Pennsylvania | $701 | 3.9% |
#7 | Ohio | $591 | 3.3% |
#8 | New Jersey | $547 | 3.0% |
#9 | Georgia | $511 | 2.8% |
#10 | Michigan | $459 | 2.5% |
#11 | North Carolina | $484 | 2.7% |
#12 | Virginia | $464 | 2.6% |
#13 | Massachusetts | $490 | 2.7% |
#14 | Washington | $481 | 2.7% |
#15 | Maryland | $363 | 2.0% |
#16 | Indiana | $321 | 1.8% |
#17 | Arizona | $297 | 1.6% |
#18 | Minnesota | $322 | 1.8% |
#19 | Tennessee | $315 | 1.7% |
#20 | Wisconsin | $292 | 1.6% |
#21 | Colorado | $323 | 1.8% |
#22 | Missouri | $276 | 1.5% |
#23 | Connecticut | $239 | 1.3% |
#24 | Louisiana | $227 | 1.3% |
#25 | Alabama | $193 | 1.1% |
#26 | South Carolina | $199 | 1.1% |
#27 | Kentucky | $185 | 1.0% |
#28 | Oregon | $208 | 1.2% |
#29 | Oklahoma | $191 | 1.1% |
#30 | Iowa | $169 | 0.9% |
#31 | Nevada | $143 | 0.8% |
#32 | Kansas | $148 | 0.8% |
#33 | Utah | $150 | 0.8% |
#34 | Arkansas | $114 | 0.6% |
#35 | District of Columbia | $122 | 0.7% |
#36 | Mississippi | $100 | 0.6% |
#37 | Nebraska | $111 | 0.6% |
#38 | New Mexico | $91 | 0.5% |
#39 | Hawaii | $79 | 0.4% |
#40 | West Virginia | $71 | 0.4% |
#41 | New Hampshire | $74 | 0.4% |
#42 | Delaware | $64 | 0.4% |
#43 | Idaho | $67 | 0.4% |
#44 | Maine | $56 | 0.3% |
#45 | Rhode Island | $53 | 0.3% |
#46 | Alaska | $52 | 0.3% |
#47 | Montana | $44 | 0.2% |
#48 | Wyoming | $39 | 0.2% |
#49 | South Dakota | $45 | 0.3% |
#50 | North Dakota | $51 | 0.3% |
#51 | Vermont | $30 | 0.2% |
🇺🇸 United States (Total) | $18,051 | 100% |
California is the largest economy today – it has a state GDP of $2.6 trillion, which is comparable to the United Kingdom.
Meanwhile, Florida and Georgia are two states that did not crack the top 10 back in the 1960s, while Texas jumped up to become the second largest state economy. It’s actually not a coincidence that all of these states are in the southern half of the country, as air conditioning has played a surprisingly pivotal role in shaping modern America.
In fact, the share of the nation’s population living in the Sunbelt rose from 28% in 1950 to 40% in 2000, and this increase in population has coincided with economic growth in many of the states that used to be a sweaty mess.
A Final Look
Here is a final animated version of the top 10 largest states by GDP, also provided by SavingSpot:
Markets
Will Tesla Lose Its Spot in the Magnificent Seven?
We visualize the recent performance of the Magnificent Seven stocks, uncovering a clear divergence between the group’s top and bottom names.
Will Tesla Lose Its Spot in the Magnificent Seven?
This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.
In this graphic, we visualize the year-to-date (YTD) performance of the “Magnificent Seven”, a leading group of U.S. tech stocks that gained prominence in 2023 as the replacement of FAANG stocks.
All figures are as of March 12, 2024, and are listed in the table below.
Rank | Company | YTD Change (%) |
---|---|---|
1 | Nvidia | 90.8 |
2 | Meta | 44.3 |
3 | Amazon | 16.9 |
4 | Microsoft | 12 |
5 | 0.2 | |
6 | Apple | -6.7 |
7 | Tesla | -28.5 |
From these numbers, we can see a clear divergence in performance across the group.
Nvidia and Meta Lead
Nvidia is the main hero of this show, setting new all-time highs seemingly every week. The chipmaker is currently the world’s third most valuable company, with a valuation of around $2.2 trillion. This puts it very close to Apple, which is currently valued at $2.7 trillion.
The second best performer of the Magnificent Seven has been Meta, which recently re-entered the trillion dollar club after falling out of favor in 2022. The company saw a massive one-day gain of $197 billion on Feb 2, 2024.
Apple and Tesla in the Red
Tesla has lost over a quarter of its value YTD as EV hype continues to fizzle out. Other pure play EV stocks like Rivian and Lucid are also down significantly in 2024.
Meanwhile, Apple shares have struggled due to weakening demand for its products in China, as well as the company’s lack of progress in the artificial intelligence (AI) space.
Investors may have also been disappointed to hear that Apple’s electric car project, which started a decade ago, has been scrapped.
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