Illinois vs Michigan: two economies side by side

Illinois and Michigan 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 7, Michigan on 4 of 11 measures

Indicator	A · IL	B · MI	Ranks
GDP, 2025	$1.24T	$733.9B	5 · 14
Real GDP growth, 2025	+2.6%	+2.2%	14 · 20
Real growth a year since 2015	+1.4%	+1.6%	37 · 32
GDP per person	$97,568	$72,462	11 · 40
Income per person, 2025	$78,987	$67,245	15 · 39
Real income per person (2017 $)	$60,333	$53,569	17 · 41
Price level (US = 100)	100.0	96.2	19 · 28
Housing costs (US = 100)	93.9	82.3	21 · 29
Unemployment, September 2026	4.6%	5.0%	41 · 47
Population	12,719,141	10,127,884	6 · 10
Population growth a year since 2020	−0.12%	+0.11%	48 · 41

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

IllinoisMichigan

Fig. 2Unemployment rateMonthly, seasonally adjusted, since 2015

IllinoisMichigan

Industry mix, 2025

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

Industry	IL	MI	Gap, pp	Larger in
Finance & insurance	11.0%	5.8%	5.3	IL
Manufacturing	11.3%	15.4%	4.1	MI
Information	4.2%	2.8%	1.4	IL
Retail trade	5.3%	6.7%	1.4	MI
Government	8.9%	10.0%	1.2	MI
Transportation & warehousing	4.0%	2.9%	1.1	IL
Health care	7.4%	8.4%	1.1	MI
Real estate	12.8%	13.7%	0.9	MI
Wholesale trade	8.5%	7.6%	0.9	IL
Construction	3.4%	4.2%	0.7	MI
Education	1.3%	0.7%	0.6	IL
Management of companies	1.4%	1.8%	0.5	MI
Professional services	8.3%	7.9%	0.4	IL
Administrative & waste services	3.3%	3.0%	0.3	IL
Other services	2.1%	2.4%	0.2	MI
Arts & recreation	1.1%	0.9%	0.2	IL
Accommodation & food	3.0%	2.9%	0.1	IL
Mining, oil & gas	0.1%	0.2%	0.1	MI
Agriculture	0.8%	0.8%	0.1	MI
Utilities	1.8%	1.9%	0.0