Idaho vs Utah: two economies side by side

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

Rocky MountainIdaho leads on 4, Utah on 7 of 11 measures

Indicator	A · ID	B · UT	Ranks
GDP, 2025	$137.4B	$319.2B	39 · 28
Real GDP growth, 2025	+3.1%	+2.7%	6 · 13
Real growth a year since 2015	+4.3%	+4.6%	2 · 1
GDP per person	$67,695	$90,191	46 · 18
Income per person, 2025	$64,200	$70,323	43 · 30
Real income per person (2017 $)	$52,816	$55,116	44 · 40
Price level (US = 100)	95.5	98.9	29 · 21
Housing costs (US = 100)	90.0	107.8	24 · 15
Unemployment, September 2026	3.6%	3.5%	20 · 19
Population	2,029,733	3,538,904	37 · 30
Population growth a year since 2020	+1.9%	+1.5%	1 · 5

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

IdahoUtah

Fig. 2Unemployment rateMonthly, seasonally adjusted, since 2015

IdahoUtah

Industry mix, 2025

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

Industry	ID	UT	Gap, pp	Larger in
Finance & insurance	5.4%	9.9%	4.4	UT
Agriculture	3.9%	0.5%	3.4	ID
Health care	8.6%	5.5%	3.1	ID
Information	2.5%	5.5%	3.0	UT
Wholesale trade	6.9%	5.0%	1.8	ID
Retail trade	7.8%	6.6%	1.2	ID
Construction	6.6%	7.8%	1.2	UT
Professional services	6.4%	7.5%	1.1	UT
Utilities	1.5%	2.3%	0.8	UT
Real estate	14.8%	14.0%	0.8	ID
Administrative & waste services	3.4%	2.8%	0.7	ID
Accommodation & food	3.1%	2.6%	0.5	ID
Education	0.8%	1.3%	0.5	UT
Transportation & warehousing	2.8%	3.2%	0.4	UT
Other services	1.9%	2.3%	0.4	UT
Manufacturing	9.7%	9.3%	0.4	ID
Mining, oil & gas	1.4%	1.5%	0.1	UT
Management of companies	1.3%	1.2%	0.1	ID
Arts & recreation	0.8%	0.9%	0.1	UT
Government	10.4%	10.4%	0.0