Connecticut vs Rhode Island: two economies side by side

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

New EnglandConnecticut leads on 6, Rhode Island on 5 of 11 measures

Indicator	A · CT	B · RI	Ranks
GDP, 2025	$382.6B	$88.2B	23 · 45
Real GDP growth, 2025	+2.5%	+2.8%	16 · 12
Real growth a year since 2015	+1.0%	+1.4%	47 · 36
GDP per person	$103,727	$79,174	7 · 32
Income per person, 2025	$102,307	$75,233	2 · 23
Real income per person (2017 $)	$74,254	$55,878	3 · 35
Price level (US = 100)	103.6	102.3	10 · 15
Housing costs (US = 100)	117.0	105.6	11 · 18
Unemployment, September 2026	5.1%	3.6%	50 · 23
Population	3,688,496	1,114,521	29 · 44
Population growth a year since 2020	+0.60%	+0.33%	21 · 33

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

ConnecticutRhode Island

Fig. 2Unemployment rateMonthly, seasonally adjusted, since 2015

ConnecticutRhode Island

Industry mix, 2025

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

Industry	CT	RI	Gap, pp	Larger in
Finance & insurance	16.4%	12.7%	3.7	CT
Manufacturing	10.5%	7.0%	3.5	CT
Government	8.8%	11.9%	3.1	RI
Information	5.3%	2.4%	2.9	CT
Accommodation & food	2.5%	4.3%	1.9	RI
Health care	8.5%	10.0%	1.5	RI
Construction	2.8%	3.8%	1.0	RI
Real estate	13.1%	13.9%	0.8	RI
Education	2.4%	3.0%	0.6	RI
Wholesale trade	5.3%	5.9%	0.6	RI
Administrative & waste services	2.9%	3.2%	0.3	RI
Retail trade	5.4%	5.7%	0.3	RI
Professional services	7.2%	7.0%	0.3	CT
Other services	1.9%	2.1%	0.2	RI
Management of companies	2.2%	2.0%	0.1	CT
Utilities	1.6%	1.8%	0.1	RI
Agriculture	0.1%	0.2%	0.1	RI
Mining, oil & gas	0.0%	0.1%	0.1	RI
Transportation & warehousing	2.1%	2.0%	0.1	CT
Arts & recreation	1.0%	1.0%	0.0