Alabama vs Mississippi: two economies side by side

Alabama and Mississippi share a border. Here are the two economies on the same measures, with the rank of each among 51 states and DC.

SoutheastAlabama leads on 8, Mississippi on 3 of 11 measures

Indicator	A · AL	B · MS	Ranks
GDP, 2025	$339.0B	$162.8B	27 · 37
Real GDP growth, 2025	+2.0%	+1.3%	25 · 40
Real growth a year since 2015	+2.2%	+1.2%	22 · 41
GDP per person	$65,286	$55,117	48 · 51
Income per person, 2025	$59,754	$54,433	49 · 51
Real income per person (2017 $)	$52,216	$48,465	48 · 51
Price level (US = 100)	88.8	87.0	45 · 50
Housing costs (US = 100)	61.8	56.5	48 · 50
Unemployment, September 2026	3.5%	3.3%	18 · 13
Population	5,193,088	2,954,160	24 · 35
Population growth a year since 2020	+0.63%	−0.03%	20 · 45

Highlighted: the higher value, or the lower one for prices and unemployment. BEA (GDP, income, price parities), BLS (unemployment).

Fig. 1Real GDP, index 2015 = 100Chained 2017 dollars

AlabamaMississippi

Fig. 2Unemployment rateMonthly, seasonally adjusted, since 2015

AlabamaMississippi

Industry mix, 2025

Share of each state’s GDP. Sorted by the gap between the two.

Industry	AL	MS	Gap, pp	Larger in
Professional services	6.6%	3.7%	2.8	AL
Transportation & warehousing	2.6%	4.0%	1.4	MS
Retail trade	7.0%	8.2%	1.2	MS
Wholesale trade	6.4%	5.3%	1.2	AL
Construction	4.8%	3.7%	1.1	AL
Accommodation & food	3.0%	3.9%	0.9	MS
Agriculture	1.0%	1.8%	0.9	MS
Finance & insurance	6.6%	5.9%	0.7	AL
Health care	7.0%	7.6%	0.7	MS
Information	2.2%	1.7%	0.5	AL
Government	15.5%	16.0%	0.5	MS
Mining, oil & gas	0.9%	0.5%	0.4	AL
Manufacturing	14.6%	14.9%	0.3	MS
Management of companies	0.9%	1.1%	0.2	MS
Administrative & waste services	2.6%	2.8%	0.2	MS
Other services	2.4%	2.2%	0.2	AL
Utilities	2.9%	3.1%	0.2	MS
Education	0.5%	0.6%	0.2	MS
Arts & recreation	0.4%	0.6%	0.2	MS
Real estate	12.2%	12.3%	0.1	MS