Illinois vs Indiana: two economies side by side

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

Great LakesIllinois leads on 6, Indiana on 5 of 11 measures

Indicator	A · IL	B · IN	Ranks
GDP, 2025	$1.24T	$542.5B	5 · 19
Real GDP growth, 2025	+2.6%	+1.9%	14 · 28
Real growth a year since 2015	+1.4%	+2.2%	37 · 23
GDP per person	$97,568	$77,790	11 · 34
Income per person, 2025	$78,987	$66,455	15 · 40
Real income per person (2017 $)	$60,333	$55,562	17 · 36
Price level (US = 100)	100.0	93.3	19 · 34
Housing costs (US = 100)	93.9	73.9	21 · 36
Unemployment, September 2026	4.6%	3.4%	41 · 14
Population	12,719,141	6,973,333	6 · 17
Population growth a year since 2020	−0.12%	+0.53%	48 · 25

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

IllinoisIndiana

Fig. 2Unemployment rateMonthly, seasonally adjusted, since 2015

IllinoisIndiana

Industry mix, 2025

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

Industry	IL	IN	Gap, pp	Larger in
Manufacturing	11.3%	23.8%	12.5	IN
Finance & insurance	11.0%	6.2%	4.8	IL
Professional services	8.3%	5.1%	3.2	IL
Information	4.2%	1.6%	2.6	IL
Wholesale trade	8.5%	6.4%	2.1	IL
Real estate	12.8%	10.8%	2.0	IL
Construction	3.4%	5.2%	1.8	IN
Health care	7.4%	8.4%	1.1	IN
Administrative & waste services	3.3%	2.7%	0.6	IL
Government	8.9%	8.3%	0.6	IL
Agriculture	0.8%	1.3%	0.5	IN
Retail trade	5.3%	5.8%	0.5	IN
Education	1.3%	1.0%	0.4	IL
Transportation & warehousing	4.0%	3.7%	0.2	IL
Management of companies	1.4%	1.1%	0.2	IL
Mining, oil & gas	0.1%	0.3%	0.2	IN
Other services	2.1%	2.2%	0.1	IN
Accommodation & food	3.0%	2.9%	0.0
Utilities	1.8%	1.9%	0.0
Arts & recreation	1.1%	1.1%	0.0