Maps

Ranked: The Best and Worst State Economies

Published

5 years ago

April 19, 2018

Jeff Desjardins

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Ranked: The Best and Worst State Economies

View the high resolution version of today’s graphic by clicking here.

On a global scale, the U.S. economy is massive at close to $19 trillion in size.

However, the United States is also the sum of its parts. America represents the union of 50 states and other jurisdictions such as D.C., and all of these state-level economies have their own unique problems to overcome, drivers of growth, and local resources that factor into their prosperity.

How can we compare these state economies on an even playing field?

Ranked: State Economies

Using absolute numbers, it’s hard to directly compare California ($2.75 trillion GDP, 39.5 million people) to a state like Vermont ($33 billion, 0.6 million people). By leveling the playing field, we can get an idea of how states contrast in terms of relative economic strength that companies and workers would better recognize.

Today’s infographic uses 27 metrics from WalletHub to rank state economies. These metrics are grouped into three major categories, which are evenly weighted:

1. Economic Activity: GDP growth, startup activity, exports per capita, and three other metrics
2. Economic Health: Labor force changes, median household income, unemployment, and 13 other metrics
3. Innovation Potential: Entrepreneurial activity, R&D investment, patents per capita, and three other metrics

Note: the full methodology with all 27 factors can be found here.

Here’s how the rankings shake down, for all 50 state economies and D.C.:

Overall	State	Total Score	Economic Activity	Economic Health	Innovation Potential
1	Washington	76.5	1	4	3
2	California	73.8	2	26	2
3	Utah	73.8	5	1	4
4	Massachusetts	73.3	4	29	1
5	District of Columbia	67.1	3	6	13
6	Colorado	66.4	15	3	5
7	Oregon	65.7	6	9	10
8	New Hampshire	62.5	17	10	7
9	Maryland	61.0	18	28	6
10	Delaware	59.8	10	20	15
11	Idaho	58.2	21	2	19
12	Michigan	57.9	23	33	8
13	Virginia	57.5	9	18	23
14	Arizona	57.4	16	24	14
15	North Carolina	57.3	24	11	12
16	Connecticut	57.3	12	45	9
17	Minnesota	56.6	20	16	17
18	Georgia	56.0	8	21	29
19	New York	55.7	7	44	18
20	Texas	55.4	19	15	21
21	New Jersey	55.1	11	47	11
22	Florida	54.5	13	12	30
23	Missouri	50.2	34	19	24
24	South Carolina	49.8	14	23	41
25	Wisconsin	49.2	33	14	31
26	Vermont	49.1	35	31	22
27	Nebraska	49.0	36	7	34
28	Indiana	48.9	26	25	35
29	Nevada	48.1	22	27	40
30	Pennsylvania	47.7	25	41	27
31	Montana	47.7	46	13	25
32	South Dakota	47.1	39	5	39
33	Iowa	47.0	31	22	37
34	Illinois	46.9	27	43	26
35	Tennessee	46.4	29	17	44
36	Rhode Island	46.0	40	40	20
37	Ohio	45.7	30	42	28
38	Kansas	44.3	43	34	32
39	Hawaii	43.7	38	30	38
40	New Mexico	42.1	44	51	16
41	Alabama	41.6	32	38	43
42	North Dakota	41.1	51	8	36
43	Wyoming	39.4	47	32	45
44	Kentucky	38.9	28	46	48
45	Maine	38.9	37	36	47
46	Alaska	37.7	50	39	33
47	Oklahoma	37.1	49	37	42
48	Arkansas	35.9	45	35	50
49	Mississippi	35.0	41	48	46
50	Louisiana	33.2	42	50	49
51	West Virginia	28.1	48	49	51

Topping the list for overall score were the states of Washington, California, and Utah, and the first place state in each major category includes Washington (Economic Activity), Utah (Economic Health), and Massachusetts (Innovation Potential).

Case in Point

Looking at statistics and scoring methodologies alone can be a bit esoteric, so let’s look at some individual cases to see some contrast.

Utah (Rank: #3)
Utah consistently ranks as one of the top states for business, in the country, as well as a top state for job growth and employment. It’s also pretty unique in that it has a fairly diversified economy, with major sectors in the tourism, agriculture, tech, manufacturing, finance, energy, and mining industries.

Utah has a higher median household income ($65,977), and a blistering 3.4% employment growth rate.

Florida (Rank: #22)
Using this methodology, Florida falls somewhere in the middle of the rankings. The good news is the state has good employment growth (2.9%) and a myriad of thriving industries like aerospace. The bad news? Florida has the second-highest level of poverty in the union at 19%, and it also has a lower median household income ($50,860) than the national average.

Maine (Rank: #45)
Economic activity is sluggish in the country’s most northeastern state. With an aging population, slow employment growth (0.8%), and a number of lost manufacturing jobs over the last 15 years, the state is trying to rebound. Maine isn’t helped by having one of the highest tax burdens for its citizens and businesses in the country, either.

Related Topics:Growth GDP united states state jobs employment economies

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Real Estate

Mapped: The Growth in House Prices by Country

Global house prices were resilient in 2022, rising 6%. We compare nominal and real price growth by country as interest rates surged.

Published

7 hours ago

June 9, 2023

Dorothy Neufeld

Mapped: The Growth in House Prices by Country

This was originally posted on Advisor Channel. Sign up to the free mailing list to get beautiful visualizations on financial markets that help advisors and their clients.

Global housing prices rose an average of 6% annually, between Q4 2021 and Q4 2022.

In real terms that take inflation into account, prices actually fell 2% for the first decline in 12 years. Despite a surge in interest rates and mortgage costs, housing markets were noticeably stable. Real prices remain 7% above pre-pandemic levels.

In this graphic, we show the change in residential property prices with data from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).

The Growth in House Prices, Ranked

The following dataset from the BIS covers nominal and real house price growth across 58 countries and regions as of the fourth quarter of 2022:

Price Growth Rank	Country / Region	Nominal Year-over-Year Change (%)	Real Year-over-Year Change (%)
1	🇹🇷 Türkiye	167.9	51.0
2	🇷🇸 Serbia	23.1	7.0
3	🇷🇺 Russia	23.1	9.7
4	🇲🇰 North Macedonia	20.6	1.0
5	🇮🇸 Iceland	20.3	9.9
6	🇭🇷 Croatia	17.3	3.6
7	🇪🇪 Estonia	16.9	-3.0
8	🇮🇱 Israel	16.8	11.0
9	🇭🇺 Hungary	16.5	-5.1
10	🇱🇹 Lithuania	16.0	-5.5
11	🇸🇮 Slovenia	15.4	4.2
12	🇧🇬 Bulgaria	13.4	-3.2
13	🇬🇷 Greece	12.2	3.7
14	🇵🇹 Portugal	11.3	1.3
15	🇬🇧 United Kingdom	10.0	-0.7
16	🇸🇰 Slovak Republic	9.7	-4.8
17	🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates	9.6	2.9
18	🇵🇱 Poland	9.3	-6.9
19	🇱🇻 Latvia	9.1	-10.2
20	🇸🇬 Singapore	8.6	1.9
21	🇮🇪 Ireland	8.6	-0.2
22	🇨🇱 Chile	8.2	-3.0
23	🇯🇵 Japan	7.9	3.9
24	🇲🇽 Mexico	7.9	-0.1
25	🇵🇭 Philippines	7.7	-0.2
26	🇺🇸 United States	7.1	0.0
27	🇨🇿 Czechia	6.9	-7.6
28	🇷🇴 Romania	6.7	-7.5
29	🇲🇹 Malta	6.3	-0.7
30	🇨🇾 Cyprus	6.3	-2.9
31	🇨🇴 Colombia	6.3	-5.6
32	🇱🇺 Luxembourg	5.6	-0.5
33	🇪🇸 Spain	5.5	-1.1
34	🇨🇭 Switzerland	5.4	2.4
35	🇳🇱 Netherlands	5.4	-5.3
36	🇦🇹 Austria	5.2	-4.8
37	🇫🇷 France	4.8	-1.2
38	🇧🇪 Belgium	4.7	-5.7
39	🇹🇭 Thailand	4.7	-1.1
40	🇿🇦 South Africa	3.1	-4.0
41	🇮🇳 India	2.8	-3.1
42	🇮🇹 Italy	2.8	-8.0
43	🇳🇴 Norway	2.6	-3.8
44	🇮🇩 Indonesia	2.0	-3.4
45	🇵🇪 Peru	1.5	-6.3
46	🇲🇾 Malaysia	1.2	-2.6
47	🇰🇷 South Korea	-0.1	-5.0
48	🇲🇦 Morocco	-0.1	-7.7
49	🇧🇷 Brazil	-0.1	-5.8
50	🇫🇮 Finland	-2.3	-10.2
51	🇩🇰 Denmark	-2.4	-10.6
52	🇦🇺 Australia	-3.2	-10.2
53	🇩🇪 Germany	-3.6	-12.1
54	🇸🇪 Sweden	-3.7	-13.7
55	🇨🇳 China	-3.7	-5.4
56	🇨🇦 Canada	-3.8	-9.8
57	🇳🇿 New Zealand	-10.4	-16.5
58	🇭🇰 Hong Kong SAR	-13.5	-15.1

Türkiye’s property prices jumped the highest globally, at nearly 168% amid soaring inflation.

Real estate demand has increased alongside declining interest rates. The government drastically cut interest rates from 19% in late 2021 to 8.5% to support a weakening economy.

Many European countries saw some of the highest price growth in nominal terms. A strong labor market and low interest rates pushed up prices, even as mortgage rates broadly doubled across the continent. For real price growth, most countries were in negative territory—notably Sweden, Germany, and Denmark.

Nominal U.S. housing prices grew just over 7%, while real price growth halted to 0%. Prices have remained elevated given the stubbornly low supply of inventory. In fact, residential prices remain 45% above pre-pandemic levels.

How Do Interest Rates Impact Property Markets?

Global house prices boomed during the pandemic as central banks cut interest rates to prop up economies.

Now, rates have returned to levels last seen before the Global Financial Crisis. On average, rates have increased four percentage points in many major economies. Roughly three-quarters of the countries in the BIS dataset witnessed negative year-over-year real house price growth as of the fourth quarter of 2022.

Interest rates have a large impact on property prices. Cross-country evidence shows that for every one percentage point increase in real interest rates, the growth rate of housing prices tends to fall by about two percentage points.

When Will Housing Prices Fall?

The rise in U.S. interest rates has been counteracted by homeowners being reluctant to sell so they can keep their low mortgage rates. As a result, it is keeping inventory low and prices high. Homeowners can’t sell and keep their low mortgage rates unless they meet strict conditions on a new property.

Additionally, several other factors impact price dynamics. Construction costs, income growth, labor shortages, and population growth all play a role.

With a strong labor market continuing through 2023, stable incomes may help stave off prices from falling. On the other hand, buyers with floating-rate mortgages face steeper costs and may be unable to afford new rates. This could increase housing supply in the market, potentially leading to lower prices.