REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
- The US economy continues chugging along.
- For most Americans, local economic conditions are at least as important as the national picture.
- To get a snapshot of how the smaller economies that together make up the national jigsaw are doing, Business Insider ranked the 50 states (and DC) on six economic measures.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
The US economy continues to keep chugging along in one of the longest expansions in modern history, with respectable overall economic growth and a strong jobs market.
But for most Americans, the local economic situation is just as important as the overall national economy. Here’s a look at how the economies in each of the 50 states and DC are doing right now.
Business Insider combined six measures of labor-market and general economic health for all the states and the District of Columbia: the unemployment rate, job growth, per-capita GDP, GDP growth, average weekly wages, and wage growth. By putting all those on a common scale and combining them, we came up with an overall score for each state’s economy.
Click here to see our detailed sources and methods.
Overall, most states are doing pretty well. Similar to the nation as a whole, unemployment rates tend to be fairly low, and GDP and wage growth are fairly strong across the board.
As in previous versions of our ranking, Washington, DC, came out on top. The Mountain West made a very strong showing as well, with Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado all scoring very highly on our measures.
Here’s how the economy of each state and DC is doing right now:
51. Mississippi’s per capita GDP of $39,037 and average weekly wage of $729 were the lowest among the 50 states and DC, while its unemployment rate of 5.0% was the third highest.
Wikimedia
50. Michigan’s job growth rate of 0.4% was the seventh lowest in the country and its unemployment rate of 4.2% was tied for tenth highest.
Rebecca Cook / Reuters
49. Maryland’s GDP growth rate of 1.8% was the third lowest among the states and DC, and its job growth rate of 0.1% was the second lowest.
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See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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Source: Business Insider – akiersz@businessinsider.com (Andy Kiersz)