Arkansas vs Louisiana: two economies side by side

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

SoutheastArkansas leads on 5, Louisiana on 6 of 11 measures

Indicator	A · AR	B · LA	Ranks
GDP, 2025	$196.0B	$342.3B	35 · 26
Real GDP growth, 2025	+0.93%	+1.5%	44 · 34
Real growth a year since 2015	+2.0%	+0.97%	24 · 48
GDP per person	$62,922	$74,125	50 · 39
Income per person, 2025	$61,697	$64,103	47 · 44
Real income per person (2017 $)	$55,219	$56,789	38 · 31
Price level (US = 100)	86.9	88.2	51 · 47
Housing costs (US = 100)	58.2	63.1	49 · 46
Unemployment, September 2026	3.9%	4.0%	26 · 28
Population	3,114,791	4,618,189	33 · 25
Population growth a year since 2020	+0.66%	−0.15%	19 · 49

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

ArkansasLouisiana

Fig. 2Unemployment rateMonthly, seasonally adjusted, since 2015

ArkansasLouisiana

Industry mix, 2025

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

Industry	AR	LA	Gap, pp	Larger in
Manufacturing	12.8%	18.2%	5.4	LA
Management of companies	5.4%	1.1%	4.4	AR
Mining, oil & gas	0.4%	3.4%	2.9	LA
Wholesale trade	8.0%	5.5%	2.4	AR
Construction	4.3%	6.0%	1.7	LA
Agriculture	2.1%	0.7%	1.4	AR
Finance & insurance	6.3%	5.3%	1.0	AR
Professional services	3.9%	4.9%	1.0	LA
Retail trade	7.6%	6.7%	0.9	AR
Utilities	2.8%	2.2%	0.6	AR
Health care	8.6%	8.0%	0.5	AR
Education	0.6%	1.1%	0.5	LA
Arts & recreation	0.6%	1.1%	0.5	LA
Accommodation & food	2.9%	3.3%	0.4	LA
Information	2.0%	1.7%	0.3	AR
Administrative & waste services	3.1%	2.8%	0.3	AR
Other services	2.3%	2.1%	0.2	AR
Government	11.0%	10.8%	0.2	AR
Real estate	11.1%	10.9%	0.1	AR
Transportation & warehousing	4.3%	4.2%	0.1	AR