New Study Compiles US State GDP’s If They Were Their Own Countries

If you’re a U.S. resident, chances are you’ve wondered how your state would fare if separated from the rest of the country. A new study from the American Enterprise Institute looks to answer that question, at least economically.

The study looks at the gross domestic product of each state as if they were their own sovereign nation.

GDP is the total value of goods produced and services provided by an economy during a given year. According to the BBC, the number is “arguably the most important of all economic statistics as it attempts to capture the state of the economy in one number.”

When comparing the United States, the largest singular economy belonged to California. Business Insider detailed the state’s economic domination explaining, “In 2015, the Golden State’s GDP was about $2.46 trillion, slightly above France’s GDP ($2.42 trillion). But France’s population is about 66.48 million, while California’s is only about 39.14 million – meaning California produces about the same as France with about 40% fewer people. To put it in a global perspective, if California were its own country in 2013, it would have been the sixth-biggest economy in the world – right behind the UK, whose GDP was $2.85 trillion.”

To put the numbers in perspective, the institute mocked up a map of the United States that identifies each state with a country that shares a similar GDP. Some examples include Texas having roughly the same GDP as Canada, Florida matching up with Indonesia, New York being comparable to South Korea, and New Jersey producing the amount of goods and services as Saudi Arabia.