Georgia vs Tennessee: two economies side by side

Georgia and Tennessee 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 5, Tennessee on 6 of 11 measures

Indicator	A · GA	B · TN	Ranks
GDP, 2025	$936.1B	$586.2B	8 · 16
Real GDP growth, 2025	+2.9%	+2.1%	8 · 21
Real growth a year since 2015	+2.9%	+2.9%	12 · 11
GDP per person	$82,819	$80,137	25 · 30
Income per person, 2025	$65,111	$69,274	42 · 32
Real income per person (2017 $)	$52,952	$58,582	42 · 25
Price level (US = 100)	96.3	91.9	27 · 38
Housing costs (US = 100)	88.7	79.1	25 · 33
Unemployment, September 2026	3.3%	3.4%	11 · 17
Population	11,302,748	7,315,076	8 · 15
Population growth a year since 2020	+1.0%	+1.1%	11 · 9

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

GeorgiaTennessee

Fig. 2Unemployment rateMonthly, seasonally adjusted, since 2015

GeorgiaTennessee

Industry mix, 2025

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

Industry	GA	TN	Gap, pp	Larger in
Finance & insurance	9.8%	6.4%	3.4	GA
Health care	6.9%	9.2%	2.3	TN
Manufacturing	9.4%	11.6%	2.2	TN
Information	6.0%	3.8%	2.2	GA
Accommodation & food	2.8%	4.3%	1.6	TN
Real estate	14.1%	12.6%	1.5	GA
Retail trade	5.8%	7.2%	1.4	TN
Arts & recreation	0.7%	2.0%	1.3	TN
Construction	5.1%	4.1%	0.9	GA
Wholesale trade	8.3%	7.4%	0.9	GA
Professional services	7.2%	6.4%	0.7	GA
Other services	1.7%	2.4%	0.7	TN
Transportation & warehousing	4.0%	4.6%	0.6	TN
Administrative & waste services	3.1%	3.6%	0.5	TN
Utilities	1.7%	1.3%	0.4	GA
Management of companies	1.9%	1.6%	0.3	GA
Agriculture	0.5%	0.3%	0.1	GA
Education	1.1%	1.0%	0.1	GA
Mining, oil & gas	0.2%	0.3%	0.1	TN
Government	9.8%	9.8%	0.0