Size of U.S. State Economies vs. Foreign Countries

We often lose sight of: a) how big the U.S. economy is, b) how productive American workers, and how much we produce vs. other countries. After all, who can get their mind around $13 trillion, the size of the U.S. economy measured by GDP ($13,000,000,000,000)?

World GDP is about $47 trillion according to the CIA World Factbook, so the U.S. economy produces more than 30% of world output every year, with just 5% of the world's population. Reason: American workers are so productive compared to workers in other countries. That's why per capita GDP in the U.S. is $43,500 vs. the world average of $10,000, and why many single U.S. states are equal in size, or larger than, many foreign countries.

The fascinating GDP map above (click to enlarge) matches the size of state economies in the U.S. to the size of comparable countries. You can view GDP by state here, and GDP by country here.

For example, Texas GDP is about $1 trillion, equal to the entire GDP of Canada. Georgia GDP is $363 billion, approximately equal to the GDP of Switzerland. Mississippi GDP is $81 billion, a little bit smaller than the GDP of Chile last year ($95 billion), so the comparisons in the map might be approximate, not exact.

Genesee County (includes Flint, MI) where I live, produces roughly twice as much output annually with a population of 400,000 people as the entire country of Honduras produces with more than 7m people! The state of Michigan produces more output ($376 billion) with 10 million residents than the entire country of Turkey produces with 70 million people!

Thanks to Chapomatic for the pointer on the GDP map.