2021’s Best & Worst State Economies

by Soraya Alcalá 06/07/2021

written by Soraya Alcalá 06/07/2021

WalletHub

U.S. economic growth depends heavily on the performance of individual states. But some contribute more than others. California, for instance, is the fifth largest economy in the world, boasting a GDP larger than that of countries like the U.K., France and India. Meanwhile, Hawaii is struggling with the highest unemployment rate in the country, at 9%. That makes sense considering the state has an economy that relies heavily on tourism, which took a big hit due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In order to determine which states are pulling the most weight even during this time of economic difficulty, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 29 key indicators of economic performance and strength. Our data set ranges from GDP growth to startup activity to the share of jobs in high-tech industries.

State Economy Rankings

Overall Rank	State	Total Score	Economic Activity	Economic Health	Innovation Potential
1	Utah	78.28	1	2	10
2	Washington	72.04	2	15	4
3	California	66.83	3	42	2
4	Massachusetts	65.74	9	34	1
5	Idaho	61.93	14	1	13
6	Colorado	61.36	7	18	9
7	Maryland	59.77	6	31	8
8	Oregon	59.66	11	30	5
9	Arizona	59.58	5	8	17
10	Georgia	59.17	4	9	29
11	North Carolina	57.69	12	12	11
12	New Hampshire	56.71	40	14	3
13	Virginia	55.27	8	10	24
14	District of Columbia	54.37	13	26	14
15	Texas	53.57	10	23	22
16	Nebraska	51.38	15	4	33
17	Iowa	49.71	20	13	25
18	Minnesota	49.31	29	19	16
19	Michigan	48.82	43	35	7
20	North Dakota	48.55	17	7	37
21	Connecticut	48.42	28	50	6
22	New Jersey	48.14	19	46	12
23	Florida	47.32	16	20	36
24	Wisconsin	46.85	41	24	21
25	Delaware	46.69	32	32	20
26	Indiana	46.55	25	25	30
27	Kansas	46.47	31	11	32
28	Montana	46.34	30	6	34
29	Tennessee	46.16	22	5	38
30	Missouri	46.00	37	21	28
31	New York	45.45	18	47	18
32	Alabama	45.04	26	17	35
33	South Dakota	44.54	21	3	49
34	Pennsylvania	44.20	36	41	19
35	Ohio	43.06	35	38	27
36	South Carolina	42.16	27	22	40
37	New Mexico	42.05	39	49	15
38	Illinois	41.32	24	48	31
39	Arkansas	39.65	33	16	48
40	Vermont	39.56	48	33	23
41	Rhode Island	38.65	47	39	26
42	Wyoming	37.59	42	27	45
43	Mississippi	37.47	34	36	43
44	Maine	37.10	46	28	42
45	Nevada	36.36	23	43	46
46	Kentucky	35.98	38	37	44
47	Oklahoma	34.98	49	29	41
48	Alaska	34.82	45	45	39
49	Louisiana	29.39	44	51	50
50	West Virginia	25.65	50	40	51
51	Hawaii	23.56	51	44	47

Note: With the exception of “Total Score,” all of the columns in the table above depict the relative rank of that state, where a rank of 1 represents the best conditions for that metric category.

Methodology

In order to determine the best state economies, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across three key dimensions: 1) Economic Activity, 2) Economic Health and 3) Innovation Potential.

We evaluated those dimensions using 29 relevant metrics, which are listed below with their corresponding weights. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the highest economic performance.

We then determined each state and the District’s weighted average across all metrics to calculate its overall score and used the resulting scores to rank-order our sample.