UPDATE WITH 2014 FIGURES: It’s common for the remaining California boosters (almost ALL far to the left of center) to smugly assert that “California is the 7th largest ‘country’ in the world.” Using GDP (Gross Domestic Product) as a benchmark, it is a true assertion. It’s also an incomplete assertion. And certainly a misleading assertion. Indeed, a more detailed analysis cuts the legs out from under the booster bunch.
To begin with, that 7th (or 8th — it’s very close) place rank is DOWN from 1999, when CA was ranked 5th. We are in a stately decline.
Moreover, our three immediate “competitors” are India, Italy and Brazil — three economic basket cases. This fact should alert one that using simple GDP as a measure of a country’s prosperity can be remarkably misleading.
Touting CA (vs. other states) as the best state simply because of its high GDP ranking as a country (again, compared to the other states) is just plain silly. CA has almost 39 million people, far larger than any other state. 2nd is Texas at 27+ million, with the other 48 states tailing off quickly in population.
A much more legitimate comparison is the PER CAPITA GDP of the states. After all, THAT’s what people want to know about the prosperity of a state or country — not the GROSS GDP figure without considering the size of the population.
Fortunately I found good sources for this information, and just got more recent figures. All the data I’ll be citing from this point forward comes from the listed sources and my Excel spreadsheet. Anyone wishing to receive the actual spreadsheet to see the math should contact me for the template.
First, let’s look at the 2012 PER CAPITA GDP rank of states. Well, if you want to count “Columbia,” it’s BY FAR the richest per capita jurisdiction — almost TRIPLE the best state. But this rip in the space-time continuum doesn’t operate by the normal rules of wealth physics — if it WERE a state, we’d nickname it the “Looter State,” given is source of wealth (taxation). Hence we ignore D.C. in this ranking comparison.
Here’s that ranking of these 50 states (plus the U.S. average, and, of course, nutty D.C.):
| RANK | State | 2014 |
| Per Capita | ||
| GDP | ||
| 1 | Dist. of Col. | $159,386 |
| 2 | Alaska | $66,160 |
| 3 | North Dakota | $65,225 |
| 4 | New York | $64,818 |
| 5 | Connecticut | $64,675 |
| 6 | Wyoming | $64,309 |
| 7 | Massachusetts | $63,005 |
| 8 | Delaware | $60,551 |
| 9 | New Jersey | $56,405 |
| 10 | Washington | $55,298 |
| 11 | California | $54,462 |
| 12 | Texas | $54,433 |
| 13 | Maryland | $53,759 |
| 14 | Illinois | $52,827 |
| 15 | Minnesota | $52,801 |
| 16 | Nebraska | $52,724 |
| 17 | Colorado | $52,214 |
| 18 | Virginia | $51,338 |
| 19 | Oregon | $51,329 |
| 20 | New Hampshire | $49,951 |
| 21 | Hawaii | $49,686 |
| 22 | United States | $49,469 |
| 23 | Iowa | $49,075 |
| 24 | Rhode Island | $47,901 |
| 25 | Pennsylvania | $47,637 |
| 26 | South Dakota | $46,688 |
| 27 | Wisconsin | $46,665 |
| 28 | Louisiana | $46,448 |
| 29 | Ohio | $45,887 |
| 30 | Kansas | $45,765 |
| 31 | North Carolina | $44,281 |
| 32 | Indiana | $43,861 |
| 33 | Utah | $43,555 |
| 34 | Vermont | $43,354 |
| 35 | Georgia | $43,131 |
| 36 | Missouri | $42,854 |
| 37 | Nevada | $42,539 |
| 38 | Tennessee | $42,115 |
| 39 | Michigan | $42,110 |
| 40 | Oklahoma | $41,871 |
| 41 | New Mexico | $40,081 |
| 42 | Kentucky | $38,938 |
| 43 | Arizona | $38,743 |
| 44 | Florida | $38,690 |
| 45 | Montana | $38,539 |
| 46 | Maine | $38,327 |
| 47 | Alabama | $37,593 |
| 48 | Arkansas | $37,334 |
| 49 | West Virginia | $36,769 |
| 50 | South Carolina | $36,125 |
| 51 | Idaho | $35,235 |
| 52 | Mississippi | $31,551 |
As we can see from this chart, California is NOT the most prosperous state. PER CAPITA, it’s the 11th most prosperous state — nothing to brag about, but at least well into the upper third of the states.
Now let’s adjust the per capita state GDP for the cost of living (COL) in each state. California’s COL is 34.3% higher than the national COL average. Here’s the ranking of the states with this important modification:
| RANK | State | 2014 | 2015 Relative | COL-adjusted |
| Per Capita | Cost of | Per Capita GDP | ||
| GDP | Living | |||
| 1 | Dist. of Col. | $159,386 | 146.8 | $108,574 |
| 2 | Wyoming | $64,309 | 92.8 | $69,298 |
| 3 | North Dakota | $65,225 | 101.2 | $64,452 |
| 4 | Delaware | $60,551 | 102.8 | $58,902 |
| 5 | Texas | $54,433 | 92.6 | $58,783 |
| 6 | Nebraska | $52,724 | 92.3 | $57,122 |
| 7 | Illinois | $52,827 | 96.5 | $54,743 |
| 8 | Virginia | $51,338 | 94.5 | $54,326 |
| 9 | Iowa | $49,075 | 92.0 | $53,342 |
| 10 | Washington | $55,298 | 106.0 | $52,168 |
| 11 | Minnesota | $52,801 | 101.5 | $52,021 |
| 12 | Colorado | $52,214 | 101.9 | $51,240 |
| 13 | Kansas | $45,765 | 90.9 | $50,347 |
| 14 | Indiana | $43,861 | 88.0 | $49,842 |
| 15 | Louisiana | $46,448 | 93.4 | $49,730 |
| 16 | Ohio | $45,887 | 92.5 | $49,608 |
| 17 | Alaska | $66,160 | 133.5 | $49,558 |
| 18 | United States | $49,469 | 100.0 | $49,469 |
| 19 | Connecticut | $64,675 | 131.8 | $49,071 |
| 20 | Massachusetts | $63,005 | 130.4 | $48,317 |
| 21 | New York | $64,818 | 135.6 | $47,801 |
| 22 | Wisconsin | $46,665 | 98.1 | $47,569 |
| 23 | Utah | $43,555 | 92.4 | $47,137 |
| 24 | Georgia | $43,131 | 91.7 | $47,035 |
| 25 | Missouri | $42,854 | 91.5 | $46,835 |
| 26 | Oklahoma | $41,871 | 89.7 | $46,679 |
| 27 | Tennessee | $42,115 | 90.3 | $46,639 |
| 28 | Pennsylvania | $47,637 | 103.0 | $46,250 |
| 29 | North Carolina | $44,281 | 95.8 | $46,222 |
| 30 | Michigan | $42,110 | 91.2 | $46,173 |
| 31 | South Dakota | $46,688 | 102.5 | $45,549 |
| 32 | New Jersey | $56,405 | 125.6 | $44,908 |
| 33 | Maryland | $53,759 | 121.1 | $44,392 |
| 34 | Kentucky | $38,938 | 90.0 | $43,264 |
| 35 | New Mexico | $40,081 | 93.4 | $42,913 |
| 36 | New Hampshire | $49,951 | 118.2 | $42,260 |
| 37 | Alabama | $37,593 | 90.2 | $41,677 |
| 38 | Arkansas | $37,334 | 91.4 | $40,847 |
| 39 | California | $54,462 | 134.3 | $40,552 |
| 40 | Idaho | $35,235 | 88.2 | $39,949 |
| 41 | Nevada | $42,539 | 106.5 | $39,943 |
| 42 | Oregon | $51,329 | 129.5 | $39,636 |
| 43 | Arizona | $38,743 | 98.8 | $39,214 |
| 44 | Rhode Island | $47,901 | 123.3 | $38,849 |
| 45 | Florida | $38,690 | 100.5 | $38,498 |
| 46 | Mississippi | $31,551 | 83.5 | $37,786 |
| 47 | South Carolina | $36,125 | 96.1 | $37,591 |
| 48 | Montana | $38,539 | 102.7 | $37,526 |
| 49 | West Virginia | $36,769 | 103.7 | $35,457 |
| 50 | Vermont | $43,354 | 123.8 | $35,019 |
| 51 | Maine | $38,327 | 114.7 | $33,415 |
| 52 | Hawaii | $49,686 | 168.6 | $29,470 |
So, after making the proper adjustments, we find that high cost California has a lower per person GDP than all but 13 states. It turns out that our Golden State is not so golden after all.
Our dismal ranking has not changed in two years. Currently the per capita GDP average of the other 49 states is 25.0% higher than California.
BTW, it’s interesting to look at the California per capita GDP (unadjusted for COL) compared to the other COUNTRIES. While we are 7th in the world in aggregate GDP, we rank about 19th when one factors in the population to get the per capita figure.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)_per_capita
NOTE: Here’s the sources for the numbers above:
| Per capita GDP: | |||||||||||||||
| U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis. | |||||||||||||||
| http://www.bea.gov/scb/pdf/2015/07%20July/0715_gross_domestic_product_by_state.pdf page 7 | |||||||||||||||
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