Illinois vs Iowa: two economies side by side

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

Great Lakes · PlainsIllinois leads on 7, Iowa on 4 of 11 measures

Indicator	A · IL	B · IA	Ranks
GDP, 2025	$1.24T	$271.9B	5 · 32
Real GDP growth, 2025	+2.6%	−0.43%	14 · 50
Real growth a year since 2015	+1.4%	+0.97%	37 · 49
GDP per person	$97,568	$83,973	11 · 24
Income per person, 2025	$78,987	$67,321	15 · 38
Real income per person (2017 $)	$60,333	$60,144	17 · 19
Price level (US = 100)	100.0	87.8	19 · 49
Housing costs (US = 100)	93.9	65.3	21 · 44
Unemployment, September 2026	4.6%	3.2%	41 · 9
Population	12,719,141	3,238,387	6 · 32
Population growth a year since 2020	−0.12%	+0.29%	48 · 34

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

IllinoisIowa

Fig. 2Unemployment rateMonthly, seasonally adjusted, since 2015

IllinoisIowa

Industry mix, 2025

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

Industry	IL	IA	Gap, pp	Larger in
Manufacturing	11.3%	16.8%	5.5	IA
Finance & insurance	11.0%	15.7%	4.7	IA
Professional services	8.3%	3.7%	4.7	IL
Agriculture	0.8%	5.2%	4.4	IA
Real estate	12.8%	8.8%	4.0	IL
Wholesale trade	8.5%	6.0%	2.5	IL
Government	8.9%	10.6%	1.7	IA
Information	4.2%	2.5%	1.7	IL
Administrative & waste services	3.3%	2.0%	1.3	IL
Health care	7.4%	6.2%	1.1	IL
Construction	3.4%	4.5%	1.1	IA
Transportation & warehousing	4.0%	3.2%	0.8	IL
Accommodation & food	3.0%	2.2%	0.7	IL
Education	1.3%	0.8%	0.6	IL
Retail trade	5.3%	5.6%	0.3	IA
Arts & recreation	1.1%	0.8%	0.3	IL
Utilities	1.8%	1.6%	0.3	IL
Management of companies	1.4%	1.6%	0.2	IA
Other services	2.1%	2.0%	0.1	IL
Mining, oil & gas	0.1%	0.2%	0.0