Georgia vs North Carolina: two economies side by side

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

SoutheastGeorgia leads on 6, North Carolina on 5 of 11 measures

Indicator	A · GA	B · NC	Ranks
GDP, 2025	$936.1B	$895.9B	8 · 9
Real GDP growth, 2025	+2.9%	+1.8%	8 · 30
Real growth a year since 2015	+2.9%	+2.7%	12 · 15
GDP per person	$82,819	$80,007	25 · 31
Income per person, 2025	$65,111	$68,274	42 · 36
Real income per person (2017 $)	$52,952	$56,310	42 · 33
Price level (US = 100)	96.3	94.3	27 · 31
Housing costs (US = 100)	88.7	81.4	25 · 30
Unemployment, September 2026	3.3%	3.4%	11 · 15
Population	11,302,748	11,197,968	8 · 9
Population growth a year since 2020	+1.0%	+1.4%	11 · 6

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

GeorgiaNorth Carolina

Fig. 2Unemployment rateMonthly, seasonally adjusted, since 2015

GeorgiaNorth Carolina

Industry mix, 2025

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

Industry	GA	NC	Gap, pp	Larger in
Manufacturing	9.4%	12.4%	3.1	NC
Wholesale trade	8.3%	5.9%	2.4	GA
Information	6.0%	4.3%	1.7	GA
Government	9.8%	11.3%	1.5	NC
Transportation & warehousing	4.0%	2.5%	1.5	GA
Real estate	14.1%	12.7%	1.4	GA
Finance & insurance	9.8%	10.9%	1.1	NC
Administrative & waste services	3.1%	3.5%	0.4	NC
Other services	1.7%	2.1%	0.4	NC
Construction	5.1%	4.8%	0.3	GA
Retail trade	5.8%	6.0%	0.3	NC
Accommodation & food	2.8%	3.0%	0.2	NC
Education	1.1%	1.3%	0.2	NC
Health care	6.9%	6.7%	0.2	GA
Agriculture	0.5%	0.6%	0.1	NC
Professional services	7.2%	7.3%	0.1	NC
Management of companies	1.9%	2.0%	0.1	NC
Arts & recreation	0.7%	0.8%	0.1	NC
Utilities	1.7%	1.7%	0.1	NC
Mining, oil & gas	0.2%	0.2%	0.0