The chart above shows the per capita annualized nominal gross domestic product (GDP) in each EU and US state as of the third quarter of 2020 in dollars, the change from the previous quarter, and the GDP one year prior. Every single state's per capita GDP grew over the past quarter.
Findings
- The difference between the state with the largest per capita GDP, Luxembourg, and the state with the smallest, Bulgaria, is $139,995.74 (up from $119,936.36 last quarter and up from $130,547.90 last year). Luxembourg and Bulgaria had the largest and smallest per capita GDP respectively both last quarter and last year.
- Luxembourg has 15.63 times the per capita GDP that Bulgaria does. The ratio of largest per capita GDP to smallest per capita GDP was up from 15.01 last quarter and up from 15.39 last year.
- The median per capita GDP in the 28 EU states is $29,208.54 (up from $24,031.22 last quarter and down from $29,601.66 last year) and the mean $38,734.58 (up from $33,238.37 the previous quarter and up from $37,455.14 last year).
- The median per capita GDP in the 50 US states is $62,313.21 (up from $57,227.97 last quarter and down from $63,266.99 last year) and the mean $63,666.08 (up from $58,540.03 the previous quarter and down from $64,984.21 last year).
- The median per capita GDP in the 78 EU and US states is $57,601.43 (up from $50,772.15 last quarter and up from $56,252.81 last year) and the mean $54,716.31 (up from $49,457.39 the previous quarter and down from $55,101.98 last year).
- Of the 78 states, 78 (28 EU, 50 US) saw a rise in per capita GDP in current dollars from the previous quarter while zero (0 EU, 0 US) saw a contraction.
- Of the 78 states, 26 (22 EU, 4 US) saw a rise in per capita GDP in current dollars from last year while 52 (6 EU, 46 US) saw a contraction.
- Some EU gains are attributed to currency rate fluctuations.
Caveats
- GDP data is from the third quarter of 2019, the second quarter of 2020, and the third 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 1.11 for the third quarter of 2019, 1.10 for the second quarter of 2020, and 1.17 for the third 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, Bulgaria had the worst performance over the previous quarter with a gain of $1,005.60. Luxembourg had the best performance with a gain of $21,064.98. Year over year, Wyoming had the worst performance with a drop of $7,986.32 while Ireland had the best performance with a gain of $10,810.68.
In relative terms, Delaware had the worst performance over the previous quarter with a 6.78% gain in per capita GDP while Spain had the best performance with a 24.35% gain in per capita GDP. Year over year, Wyoming had the worst performance with a 11.11% drop in per capita GDP while Ireland had the best performance with a 12.42% gain in per capita GDP.
The number of states with a per capita GDP of over $80,000 was nine (2 EU, 7 US) last year, five (2 EU, 3 US) the previous quarter, and eight (2 EU, 6 US) this past quarter. Conversely, the number of states with a per capita GDP of less than $50,000 was 27 (22 EU, 5 US) last year, 39 (24 EU, 15 US) the previous quarter, and 28 (21 EU, 7 US) this past quarter.
Austria (from 52nd largest per capita GDP to 44th largest) rose eight spots over the previous quarter. Rhode Island (from 36th to 39th), South Carolina (from 44th to 47th), and Montana (from 45th to 48th) fell two spots. Year over year, Utah (from 19th to 12th), Sweden (from 40th to 33rd), and Idaho (from 48th to 41st) rose seven spots. On the flip side, Wyoming (17th to 27th) fell ten spots.
Eight EU states overcame 22 US states over the previous quarter and seven EU states overcame 21 US states over the same quarter last year. Meanwhile, one US state surpassed one EU state over the previous quarter and zero US states surpassed zero EU states over the same quarter last year.
Sources
Eurostat. 2020. "GDP and Main Components." Accessed December 28, 2020. https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?query=BOOKMARK_DS-406779_QID_-417A9D0D_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-406779NA_ITEM,B1GQ;DS-406779S_ADJ,SCA;&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 December 29, 2020. https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g5/.
US Bureau of Economic Analysis. 2020. "GDP by State." Accessed December 24, 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.