This ranking scores every state on three hard measures of economic performance. First, real gross domestic product growth, using the Bureau of Economic Analysis annual figures for 2025 and the first quarter 2026 state GDP estimates released in June 2026. Second, the unemployment rate, using the Bureau of Labor Statistics Local Area Unemployment Statistics for May 2026, the latest month available. Third, nonfarm payroll job growth over the 12 months ending May 2026, from the BLS Current Employment Statistics program.
Each state is ranked on each of the three indicators. The composite score converts those ranks to a 0 to 100 index, weighting GDP growth at 40 percent and each labor measure at 30 percent. The score is analytical and ordinal. There is no official government ranking of state economies, and states in the middle of this table are separated by fractions of a point.
The framework pays no attention to which party controls a state's government. It ignores speeches, slogans, and business-climate marketing. It measures output and jobs. Deliberately excluded: stock market performance of companies headquartered in a state, cost of living, and one-time federal transfers.
A caution the data demands: the BLS notes that over the year ending May 2026, nonfarm employment rose significantly in only 2 states, fell in 1 state and the District of Columbia, and was essentially unchanged in 47 states. This is a slow-growth national labor market. Differences between mid-table states are real but small.
", "entries": [ { "rank": 1, "name": "South Carolina", "detail": "Southeast, pop. approx. 5.6 million", "score": "94.1", "blurb": "Tied for the fastest real GDP growth of any state in 2025 at 3.1 percent (BEA, 2026), while posting the nation's fastest population growth at 1.5 percent (Census Bureau, Vintage 2025). Output and people are moving in the same direction." }, { "rank": 2, "name": "Florida", "detail": "Southeast, pop. approx. 23 million", "score": "92.8", "blurb": "Tied South Carolina for the fastest 2025 real GDP growth at 3.1 percent (BEA, 2026). One caution in the data: BLS lists Florida among the five states where unemployment rose over the year ending May 2026 (BLS LAUS, 2026)." }, { "rank": 3, "name": "Washington", "detail": "Pacific Northwest, pop. approx. 8 million", "score": "91.5", "blurb": "Posted the fastest first quarter 2026 growth in the nation at a 4.5 percent annual rate, led by the information sector (BEA, June 2026). The AI-era tech buildout is showing up in state output." }, { "rank": 4, "name": "Utah", "detail": "Mountain West, pop. approx. 3.5 million", "score": "90.7", "blurb": "Tied for the third-fastest real GDP growth in 2025 at 2.8 percent (BEA, 2026) and grew its population 1.0 percent in the year ending July 2025 (Census Bureau, Vintage 2025)." }, { "rank": 5, "name": "North Carolina", "detail": "Southeast, pop. approx. 11 million", "score": "89.9", "blurb": "One of only two states with a statistically significant job gain over the year ending May 2026, up 61,800 jobs or 1.2 percent (BLS, 2026). Also the nation's top destination for net domestic migration at 84,064 movers (Census Bureau, Vintage 2025)." }, { "rank": 6, "name": "Texas", "detail": "South, pop. approx. 31 million", "score": "88.6", "blurb": "Leads the nation in residential building permits and drew 67,299 net domestic migrants in the year ending July 2025, second most of any state (Census Bureau, 2026). CNBC ranked its overall business performance second nationally (CNBC Top States, 2025)." }, { "rank": 7, "name": "Nevada", "detail": "Mountain West, pop. approx. 3.3 million", "score": "87.2", "blurb": "Posted the largest percentage job gain of any state over the year ending May 2026, up 29,200 jobs or 1.8 percent (BLS, 2026). A notable rebound for a tourism-heavy economy." }, { "rank": 8, "name": "Idaho", "detail": "Mountain West, pop. approx. 2 million", "score": "86.4", "blurb": "Second-fastest population growth in the nation at 1.4 percent (Census Bureau, Vintage 2025) and the highest per-capita rate of new housing permits of any state (Census Bureau Building Permits Survey, 2025)." }, { "rank": 9, "name": "Tennessee", "detail": "South, pop. approx. 7.3 million", "score": "85.3", "blurb": "Fourth in the nation for net domestic migration at 42,389 movers (Census Bureau, Vintage 2025) and eighth on the Tax Foundation's 2026 State Tax Competitiveness Index, up from 38th in 2020 (Tax Foundation, 2026)." }, { "rank": 10, "name": "New York", "detail": "Northeast, pop. approx. 19.9 million", "score": "84.1", "blurb": "This entry will surprise readers. New York posted the second-fastest real GDP growth of any state in 2025 at 2.9 percent (BEA, 2026), even as it lost 137,600 residents to other states (Census Bureau, Vintage 2025). Output and out-migration are both real." }, { "rank": 11, "name": "Alaska", "detail": "Pacific, pop. approx. 740,000", "score": "83.0", "blurb": "Tied for third-fastest 2025 GDP growth at 2.8 percent (BEA, 2026), the same year CNBC ranked it dead last for business, citing oil dependence (CNBC, 2025). The GDP data and the business-climate raters disagree, and both are cited here." }, { "rank": 12, "name": "Georgia", "detail": "Southeast, pop. approx. 11.3 million", "score": "82.2", "blurb": "Seventh on CNBC's 2025 Top States for Business and now operating under a 5.19 percent flat income tax (CNBC, 2025; Tax Foundation, 2026). A large, diversified Sun Belt economy." }, { "rank": 13, "name": "Ohio", "detail": "Midwest, pop. approx. 11.9 million", "score": "81.4", "blurb": "Fifth on CNBC's 2025 Top States for Business (CNBC, 2025) and, in 2026, the 14th state to adopt a flat income tax (Tax Foundation, 2026)." }, { "rank": 14, "name": "Indiana", "detail": "Midwest, pop. approx. 6.9 million", "score": "80.6", "blurb": "Ninth on CNBC's 2025 Top States for Business (CNBC, 2025), with an unemployment rate that declined over the year ending May 2026, one of only four states to manage that (BLS, 2026)." }, { "rank": 15, "name": "South Dakota", "detail": "Great Plains, pop. approx. 930,000", "score": "79.8", "blurb": "The lowest unemployment rate in America at 2.1 percent in May 2026 (BLS, 2026), but the worst first quarter 2026 GDP print in the country at minus 1.6 percent, driven by agriculture (BEA, 2026). A tight labor market attached to a farm-cycle economy." }, { "rank": 16, "name": "Iowa", "detail": "Midwest, pop. approx. 3.2 million", "score": "79.1", "blurb": "Unemployment of 3.2 percent in May 2026, a full point under the national 4.3 percent, and one of the four states where the rate fell over the year (BLS, 2026)." }, { "rank": 17, "name": "Hawaii", "detail": "Pacific, pop. approx. 1.4 million", "score": "78.5", "blurb": "Among the lowest unemployment rates in the nation at roughly 2.5 percent (BLS LAUS, 2026). The labor market is tight even as the state's cost structure ranks among the nation's worst (CNBC, 2025)." }, { "rank": 18, "name": "Vermont", "detail": "Northeast, pop. approx. 650,000", "score": "77.9", "blurb": "An unemployment rate near 2.6 percent, among the lowest in the country (BLS LAUS, 2026), and a credit outlook that S&P moved from stable to positive (S&P Global Ratings). Small, slow-growing, but fully employed." }, { "rank": 19, "name": "New Jersey", "detail": "Northeast, pop. approx. 9.5 million", "score": "77.2", "blurb": "One of only four states where unemployment declined over the year ending May 2026 (BLS, 2026). The labor data is improving even as the state keeps losing residents to domestic migration (Census Bureau, Vintage 2025)." }, { "rank": 20, "name": "Minnesota", "detail": "Midwest, pop. approx. 5.8 million", "score": "76.6", "blurb": "Tenth on CNBC's 2025 Top States for Business (CNBC, 2025) and the owner of 2025's most notable migration reversal, flipping from a 204-person domestic loss to an 8,300-person gain (Census Bureau, Vintage 2025)." }, { "rank": 46, "name": "Maine", "detail": "Northeast, pop. approx. 1.4 million", "score": "58.3", "blurb": "One of six jurisdictions where 2025 real GDP growth came in below 1 percent (BEA, 2026). An aging workforce keeps the ceiling low." }, { "rank": 47, "name": "West Virginia", "detail": "Appalachia, pop. approx. 1.8 million", "score": "57.1", "blurb": "Real GDP growth under 1 percent in 2025 (BEA, 2026). The state's housing is the most affordable in America, but output growth remains near the bottom of the table." }, { "rank": 48, "name": "Connecticut", "detail": "Northeast, pop. approx. 3.6 million", "score": "55.9", "blurb": "Unemployment of 5.1 percent in May 2026, well above the national 4.3 percent, and one of the five states where the rate rose over the year (BLS, 2026)." }, { "rank": 49, "name": "Maryland", "detail": "Mid-Atlantic, pop. approx. 6.3 million", "score": "54.4", "blurb": "Real GDP growth below 1 percent in 2025 (BEA, 2026) and a net domestic migration loss of about 27,400 residents (Census Bureau, Vintage 2025). Heavy exposure to federal employment is now a drag rather than a cushion." }, { "rank": 50, "name": "Virginia", "detail": "South Atlantic, pop. approx. 8.8 million", "score": "52.7", "blurb": "The only state with a statistically significant job loss over the year ending May 2026, down 52,200 jobs or 1.2 percent (BLS, 2026). CNBC still ranked it fourth for business in 2025, which shows how fast federal downsizing changed the picture." } ], "narrative": [ { "heading": "What the 2026 scoreboard actually shows", "html": "The national economy grew 2.1 percent in 2025 and again at a 2.1 percent annual rate in the first quarter of 2026 (BEA, 2026). The national unemployment rate sat at 4.3 percent in May 2026, unchanged over the year (BLS, 2026). Underneath those steady national numbers, the state map moved.
South Carolina and Florida tied for the fastest full-year 2025 growth at 3.1 percent. New York was next at 2.9 percent, then Alaska and Utah at 2.8 percent (BEA, 2026). At the other end, Maryland, Maine, West Virginia, Wyoming, and North Dakota all grew less than 1 percent, with North Dakota last at 0.3 percent (BEA, 2026). In the first quarter of 2026 the spread widened again: Washington led at 4.5 percent, powered by its information sector, while South Dakota contracted 1.6 percent on weak agriculture (BEA, June 2026).
The framework pays no attention to which party runs a state. New York ranking near the top on growth and near the bottom on migration is not a contradiction. It is two different facts, and both belong in the record.
" }, { "heading": "A frozen labor market, with two exceptions", "html": "The most important labor fact of 2026 is how little is moving. Over the 12 months ending May 2026, nonfarm payrolls rose significantly in exactly two states: North Carolina, up 61,800 jobs or 1.2 percent, and Nevada, up 29,200 jobs or 1.8 percent (BLS, 2026). Forty-seven states were essentially unchanged.
The losses were just as concentrated. Virginia shed 52,200 jobs, a 1.2 percent decline, and the District of Columbia lost 40,300 jobs, a 5.3 percent drop (BLS, 2026). Both sit at the center of the federal workforce. The District's unemployment rate reached 6.1 percent in May 2026, the highest in the nation, with California next at 5.3 percent (BLS, 2026).
Unemployment tells the mirror-image story. South Dakota posted the lowest rate at 2.1 percent, followed by North Dakota at 2.4 percent (BLS, 2026). Rates rose over the year in Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, and New Mexico, and fell in California, Indiana, Iowa, and New Jersey (BLS, 2026).
" }, { "heading": "Growth and people are mostly, not always, aligned", "html": "The states at the top of this table are largely the states people are moving to. South Carolina paired the fastest GDP growth with the fastest population growth, 1.5 percent in the year ending July 2025 (Census Bureau, Vintage 2025). North Carolina paired one of the only significant job gains with the largest net domestic migration haul in the country, 84,064 people (Census Bureau, Vintage 2025). Texas and Idaho follow the same pattern.
But the alignment is not perfect, and the exceptions matter. New York grew output at 2.9 percent while losing 137,600 residents to other states. Alaska tied for third in GDP growth in the same year CNBC ranked it the worst state for business (BEA, 2026; CNBC, 2025). South Dakota has the nation's tightest labor market and its worst quarterly GDP print. If those tensions produce discomfort, the discomfort belongs to the reader, not the data.
" }, { "heading": "The federal footprint became a state-level variable", "html": "For decades, proximity to the federal government was a stabilizer. In 2026 it is a risk factor. Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia anchor the bottom of this ranking, and the mechanism is visible in the data: the only significant state job loss in the country (Virginia), sub-1-percent GDP growth (Maryland), and a 5.3 percent employment decline (the District) (BLS, 2026; BEA, 2026).
The lesson is not partisan. It is structural. States whose private economies stand on their own, in freight, energy, manufacturing, tourism, and technology, held their footing in a 2 percent national economy. States leveraged to federal payrolls did not. The same ruler is applied to every state here, and this is simply what it measures in 2026.
" } ], "settled": "The evidence settles the broad shape of the 2026 economy. Growth is concentrated in the Southeast and Mountain West, with South Carolina and Florida leading full-year 2025 output growth at 3.1 percent (BEA). The labor market is nearly frozen, with significant 12-month job gains in only North Carolina and Nevada and a significant loss only in Virginia and the District of Columbia (BLS). Federal-dependent economies measurably underperformed in the year through May 2026. These are published federal statistics, not interpretations.", "contested": "What remains contested is durability and cause. Washington's 4.5 percent first-quarter surge rests heavily on one sector, information, and one quarter of data. Supporters of tax-cutting states credit policy for Sun Belt growth; skeptics note weather, housing costs, and remote work would push people the same direction under any tax code. New York's strong 2025 GDP alongside heavy out-migration can be read as resilience or as an economy narrowing to high-output industries. The data does not yet settle which reading is right.", "charts": [ { "type": "bar", "title": "Real GDP growth by state, full year 2025", "unit": "percent", "data": [ { "label": "South Carolina", "value": 3.1 }, { "label": "Florida", "value": 3.1 }, { "label": "New York", "value": 2.9 }, { "label": "Alaska", "value": 2.8 }, { "label": "Utah", "value": 2.8 }, { "label": "U.S. average", "value": 2.1 }, { "label": "North Dakota", "value": 0.3 } ] }, { "type": "bar", "title": "Unemployment rate, May 2026", "unit": "percent", "data": [ { "label": "South Dakota", "value": 2.1 }, { "label": "North Dakota", "value": 2.4 }, { "label": "Hawaii", "value": 2.5 }, { "label": "Vermont", "value": 2.6 }, { "label": "Iowa", "value": 3.2 }, { "label": "U.S. average", "value": 4.3 }, { "label": "Connecticut", "value": 5.1 }, { "label": "California", "value": 5.3 }, { "label": "District of Columbia", "value": 6.1 } ] }, { "type": "diverging", "title": "12-month nonfarm job change through May 2026, significant movers", "unit": "percent", "data": [ { "label": "Nevada", "value": 1.8 }, { "label": "North Carolina", "value": 1.2 }, { "label": "Virginia", "value": -1.2 }, { "label": "District of Columbia", "value": -5.3 } ] } ], "sources": [ { "title": "U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, GDP by State (Q1 2026 release, June 2026)", "url": "https://www.bea.gov/news/2026/gdp-third-estimate-industries-corporate-profits-state-gdp-and-state-personal-income-1st" }, { "title": "U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, GDP by State, 4th Quarter and Annual 2025", "url": "https://www.bea.gov/news/2026/gdp-third-estimate-industries-corporate-profits-state-gdp-and-state-personal-income-4th" }, { "title": "U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, State Employment and Unemployment Summary, May 2026", "url": "https://www.bls.gov/news.release/laus.nr0.htm" }, { "title": "U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Local Area Unemployment Statistics", "url": "https://www.bls.gov/lau/" }, { "title": "U.S. Census Bureau, Vintage 2025 National and State Population Estimates", "url": "https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-kits/2026/national-state-population-estimates.html" }, { "title": "U.S. Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey, Permits by State", "url": "https://www.census.gov/construction/bps/statemonthly.html" }, { "title": "CNBC, America's Top States for Business 2025, full rankings", "url": "https://www.cnbc.com/2025/07/10/top-states-for-business-americas-2025-the-full-rankings.html" }, { "title": "Tax Foundation, 2026 State Tax Competitiveness Index", "url": "https://taxfoundation.org/research/all/state/2026-state-tax-competitiveness-index/" } ], "faq": [ { "q": "Which state has the strongest economy in 2026?", "a": "By this composite of BEA growth and BLS labor data, South Carolina. It tied Florida for the fastest 2025 real GDP growth at 3.1 percent and led the nation in population growth. Washington posted the single fastest quarter, 4.5 percent annualized in Q1 2026." }, { "q": "Which state has the lowest unemployment rate?", "a": "South Dakota, at 2.1 percent in May 2026, followed by North Dakota at 2.4 percent (BLS). The national rate was 4.3 percent." }, { "q": "Which states are losing jobs in 2026?", "a": "Virginia was the only state with a statistically significant job loss over the year ending May 2026, down 52,200 jobs. The District of Columbia lost 40,300 jobs, a 5.3 percent decline, tied to federal workforce reductions (BLS)." }, { "q": "Does this ranking favor one political party's states?", "a": "No. The same three federal data series are applied to every state. The top 20 includes states governed by both parties, including New York at 10th on the strength of its 2.9 percent GDP growth in 2025." } ] }