California is not the only state economy that’s a business powerhouse on a global scale.
The state’s businesses produced $4.1 trillion worth of goods and services in 2024, according to gross domestic product estimates from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. GDP is a broad measure of economic output.
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Not only was that the nation’s largest, but only three nations produced more, according to 2024 GDP stats from the International Monetary Fund. The U.S. was No. 1 with $29 trillion, China was next at $18.8 trillion, then Germany at $4.66 trillion.
How do other states rank in these global grades? Well, my trusty spreadsheet compared the 49 states with the 192 nations tracked by the IMF.
Texas, with its $2.7 trillion of GDP in 2024, would rank No. 8. That’s roughly the size of Italy’s economy. Here are the other states in the global Top 25 …
No. 9 New York: $2.3 trillion in GDP in 2024 – roughly Canada’s economic size.
No. 16 Florida: $1.7 trillion – roughly Indonesia.
No. 19 Illinois: $1.1 trillion – roughly Saudi Arabia.
No. 20 Pennsylvania: $1 trillion – roughly Switzerland.
No. 21 Ohio: $928 billion – roughly Poland.
No. 22 Georgia: $883 billion – roughly Taiwan.
No. 22 Washington: $855 billion – roughly Taiwan.
No. 22 New Jersey: $847 billion – roughly Taiwan.
No. 22 North Carolina: $839 billion – roughly Taiwan.
No. 23 Massachusetts: $781 billion – roughly Belgium.
No. 23 Virginia: $764 billion – roughly Belgium.
No. 23 Michigan: $707 billion – roughly Belgium.
Even the smallest U.S. economies would squeeze into the top 100 globally …
No. 89 Alaska: $70 billion in 2024, which is roughly the size of Myanmar’s economy.
No. 93 Wyoming: $53 billion – roughly Cameroon.
No. 98 Vermont: $46 billion – roughly Paraguay.
By the way, California last year moved to fourth-largest from No. 5 on this worldwide scorecard by edging past Japan, which produced $4.03 trillion in 2024.
Here are the 50 states and the District of Columbia and their ranking on this global scorecard …
Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at [email protected]
