The Bureau of Economic Analysis recently issued GDP numbers for 2012, along with revised data for previous years, so I thought it would be interesting to make a Midwest GDP and income comparison.
First, let’s look at how Ohio is doing in relation to the other Midwest states.
2012 Gross Domestic Product By State in Millions, Highest to Lowest 1. Illinois: $695,238 2. Ohio: $509,393 3. Michigan: $400,504 4. Indiana: $298,625 5. Minnesota: $294,729 6. Wisconsin: $261,548 7. Missouri: $258,832 8. Iowa: $152,436 9. Kansas: $138,953 10. Nebraska: $99,557 11. North Dakota: $46,016 12. South Dakota: $42,464
Total Midwest GDP in 2012 in Millions: $3,198,295
So Ohio has the 2nd largest economy in the Midwest, only behind Illinois and its Chicago powerhouse. Ohio has also reclaimed its spot as the 7th largest state economy after catching up to and surpassing New Jersey, which passed Ohio in 2006.
Ohio’s more than half-trillion economy is also growing faster than almost every state in the Midwest, as shown below.
Total GDP Change 2000-2012 in Millions, Highest to Lowest 1. Illinois: +$220,718 2. Ohio: +$128,498 3. Minnesota: +$105,911 4. Indiana: +$100,387 5. Wisconsin: +$84,193 6. Missouri: +$77,865 7. Michigan: +$63,045 8. Iowa: +$59,124 9. Kansas: +$53,231 10. Nebraska: +$42,224 11. North Dakota: +$27,750 12. South Dakota: +$18,426
Difference in Millions Between Ohio’s GDP and that of Other States 2000 and 2012 Ohio vs. Illinois 2000: -$93,865 2010: -$185,845 Ohio vs. Indiana 2000: $182,657 2010: $210,768 Ohio vs. Iowa 2000: $287,583 2010: $356,957 Ohio vs. Kansas 2000: $295,173 2010: $370,440 Ohio vs. Michigan 2000: $43,436 2010: $108,889 Ohio vs. Minnesota 2000: $192,077 2010: $214,664 Ohio vs. Missouri 2000: $199,928 2010: $250,561 Ohio vs. Nebraska 2000: $323,562 2010: $409,836 Ohio vs. North Dakota 2000: $362,629 2010: $463,377 Ohio vs. South Dakota 2000: $356,857 2010: $466,929 Ohio vs. Wisconsin 2000: $203,540 2010: $247,845
So Ohio has increased its GDP lead over every Midwest state except for Illinois.
Per-Capita GDP, however, is not Ohio’s strong point.
2012 Per-Capita GDP in Dollars, Highest to Lowest 1. North Dakota: $55,250 2. Minnesota: $47,028 3. Illinois: $46,161 4. Nebraska: $44,943 5. South Dakota: $43,181 6. Iowa: $42,222 7. Kansas: $41,070 8. Wisconsin: $39,308 9. Indiana: $39,065 10. Ohio: $37,690 11. Missouri: $36,815 12. Michigan: $35,298
Per-Capita GDP, does not tell us income, however.
2012 Per-Capita Income By State, Highest to Lowest 1. North Dakota: $51,893 2. Minnesota: $46,227 3. Illinois: $44,815 4. South Dakota: $43,659 5. Nebraska: $43,143 6. Iowa: $42,126 7. Kansas: $41,835 8. Wisconsin: $40,537 9. Ohio: $39,289 10. Missouri: $39,049 11. Michigan: $37,497 12. Indiana: $36,902
Ohio does slightly better here. The question would be, why is Ohio’s so low in comparison? It may have a bit to do with the overall cost of living, at least according to this cost of living index.m
Cost of Living Rank by State (out of 50), 2nd Quarter 2013 Nebraska: 2 Indiana: 5 Iowa: 9 Kansas: 11 Ohio: 13 Missouri: 16 Michigan: 19 Illinois: 20 Wisconsin: 23 North Dakota: 30 South Dakota: 31 Minnesota: 34
Ohio is less expensive to live in than 7 of the other Midwest states and is cheaper than 37 states in total. This almost certainly plays a role in wages. All in all, perhaps the state is far better off economically than the perception may indicate, at least by these metrics.
I’ve compared Columbus to peer cities nationally in terms of density and population, but I’ve never compared Columbus to the Midwest as a whole historically for those categories. For the following historic Midwest population and density ranking, I used the top 15 largest Midwest cities as of 2012 as determined by the US Census.
Red indicates a fallen ranking while blue indicates a rise. Black is no change.
Historic Population Rankings 1840 1. Cincinnati: 46,338 2. St. Louis: 16,469 3. Detroit: 9,102 4. Cleveland: 6,071 5. Columbus: 6,048 6. Chicago: 4,470 7. Indianapolis: 2,695 8. Milwaukee: 1,700 9. Toledo: 1,222 10. Kansas City: Not incorporated. 11. Lincoln: Not incorporated. 12. Minneapolis: Not incorporated. 13. Omaha: Not incorporated. 14. St. Paul: Not incorporated. 15. Wichita: Not incorporated.
1850 1. Cincinnati: 115,435 2. St. Louis: 77,860 3. Chicago: 29,963 4. Detroit: 21,019 5. Milwaukee: 20,061 6. Columbus: 17,882 7. Cleveland: 17,034 8. Indianapolis: 8,091 9. Toledo: 3,829 10. St. Paul: 1,112 11. Kansas City: Not incorporated. 12. Lincoln: Not incorporated. 13. Minneapolis: Not incorporated. 14. Omaha: Not incorporated. 15. Wichita: Not incorporated.
Columbus seems poised to take the #2 spot from Indianapolis around or just after 2020. Also, 11 of 15 would’ve seen growth 2010-2020. Cleveland, Toledo, St. Louis and Detroit would be the only cities that still lost.