GDP by State: Which U.S. States Have the Largest Economies?

Not necessarily. GDP measures the size of an economy, not how wealthy individual residents are. Large-population states naturally tend to produce more economic output because they have more workers and businesses.

Economists often use GDP per capita to compare economic output on a per-person basis. Smaller states such as Massachusetts, Washington and Delaware frequently rank much higher on that measure than they do by total GDP.

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