Alabama Economy Ranked 46th in the Nation
As the nation's economy continues to rebound with a decrease in unemployment and a rise in GDP, not every state is growing at the same rate.
While it's a great sign to see improvements collectively in the United States, a closer look at each state gives individuals a much better understanding of their personal economic climate.
Business Insider recently ranked the nation's 50 best economies based on six factors: recent change in housing prices, nonfarm payroll job growth, unemployment rate, GDP per capita, average weekly wage, and state government surplus and deficit. With all of that data compiled, the publication found the strongest state economies are:
- North Dakota
- Texas
- Colorado
- California
- Oregon
Meanwhile, Alabama is in the bottom 10 percentile, beating out only Kentucky, New Mexico, Maine, and Mississippi. The Yellowhammer state finished 46th on the list with two major factors weighing the economy down:
Alabama had a very low 2013 GDP per capita of $37,389, well below the average among the states of $48,183. Alabama's housing market was also weak, with prices increasing by only 1.64% year-over-year from Q3 2013 to Q3 2014.
If you want to dive deeper into the numbers, Business Insider has provided a detailed explanation for each of the six criteria used for the rankings. They also provide links to all of the national data they pulled and the sources they used. All of that information can be found here.
Alabama fell nine spots from the previous rankings, which came out only six months ago. At that time, Alabama was considered the 37th-best economy in the nation.