Useful Stats: State Rankings of GSP Per Capita: 1999-2003

Gross State Product (GSP) is considered, at least in theory, to be an effective measure of the "value added" by a state's economy. That is, the figure represents the sum of all net industrial activity within the state, where net activity is defined as total outputs (sales or receipts and other operating income, commodity taxes, and inventory change) minus total inputs (consumption of goods and services purchased from other industries or imported).

Comparing states' GSPs is difficult without some form of standardization, such as population or "per capita." Examining standardized trends over several years for an individual state or for comparison among two or more states may serve as a macro indicator of the state's economic health or direction.

To test this, SSTI has prepared a table presenting:

• each state's rank for GSP on a per capita basis for the years 1999-2003;
• the percent change in population for the period and rank;
• the percent change in total GSP for each state for 1999-2003 and rank; and,
• the percent change in GSP per capita for the five years and rank.

National Gross Domestic Product rose 18.58 percent from 1999 to 2003 but only 13.79 percent on a per capita basis. At 33.42 percent, Wyoming experienced the greatest change in GSP per capita. The state's ranking also improved over the five years, rising from 16th in 1999 to seventh in 2003.

SSTI's table, with a downloadable Excel version of the file is available at:http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/041805t.htm