Arkansas vs Oklahoma: two economies side by side

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

Southeast · SouthwestArkansas leads on 4, Oklahoma on 7 of 11 measures

Indicator	A · AR	B · OK	Ranks
GDP, 2025	$196.0B	$274.3B	35 · 31
Real GDP growth, 2025	+0.93%	+2.2%	44 · 19
Real growth a year since 2015	+2.0%	+1.1%	24 · 43
GDP per person	$62,922	$66,523	50 · 47
Income per person, 2025	$61,697	$66,055	47 · 41
Real income per person (2017 $)	$55,219	$58,692	38 · 23
Price level (US = 100)	86.9	87.8	51 · 48
Housing costs (US = 100)	58.2	62.8	49 · 47
Unemployment, September 2026	3.9%	4.2%	26 · 33
Population	3,114,791	4,123,288	33 · 28
Population growth a year since 2020	+0.66%	+0.78%	19 · 14

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

ArkansasOklahoma

Fig. 2Unemployment rateMonthly, seasonally adjusted, since 2015

ArkansasOklahoma

Industry mix, 2025

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

Industry	AR	OK	Gap, pp	Larger in
Mining, oil & gas	0.4%	8.7%	8.3	OK
Government	11.0%	15.7%	4.7	OK
Management of companies	5.4%	1.6%	3.8	AR
Manufacturing	12.8%	9.1%	3.8	AR
Wholesale trade	8.0%	5.2%	2.8	AR
Retail trade	7.6%	6.5%	1.1	AR
Finance & insurance	6.3%	5.6%	0.7	AR
Utilities	2.8%	2.1%	0.6	AR
Professional services	3.9%	4.5%	0.6	OK
Health care	8.6%	8.0%	0.6	AR
Transportation & warehousing	4.3%	4.8%	0.6	OK
Agriculture	2.1%	1.6%	0.6	AR
Real estate	11.1%	10.6%	0.4	AR
Construction	4.3%	3.9%	0.4	AR
Information	2.0%	2.3%	0.3	OK
Administrative & waste services	3.1%	3.3%	0.3	OK
Other services	2.3%	2.2%	0.1	AR
Arts & recreation	0.6%	0.7%	0.1	OK
Education	0.6%	0.6%	0.0
Accommodation & food	2.9%	2.9%	0.0