Illinois vs Missouri: two economies side by side

Illinois and Missouri 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 6, Missouri on 5 of 11 measures

Indicator	A · IL	B · MO	Ranks
GDP, 2025	$1.24T	$475.4B	5 · 22
Real GDP growth, 2025	+2.6%	+1.2%	14 · 42
Real growth a year since 2015	+1.4%	+1.6%	37 · 31
GDP per person	$97,568	$75,811	11 · 38
Income per person, 2025	$78,987	$69,836	15 · 31
Real income per person (2017 $)	$60,333	$57,850	17 · 28
Price level (US = 100)	100.0	90.8	19 · 39
Housing costs (US = 100)	93.9	69.9	21 · 42
Unemployment, September 2026	4.6%	3.6%	41 · 21
Population	12,719,141	6,270,541	6 · 18
Population growth a year since 2020	−0.12%	+0.37%	48 · 32

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

IllinoisMissouri

Fig. 2Unemployment rateMonthly, seasonally adjusted, since 2015

IllinoisMissouri

Industry mix, 2025

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

Industry	IL	MO	Gap, pp	Larger in
Health care	7.4%	9.3%	1.9	MO
Finance & insurance	11.0%	9.2%	1.8	IL
Professional services	8.3%	6.8%	1.5	IL
Wholesale trade	8.5%	7.0%	1.5	IL
Government	8.9%	10.3%	1.4	MO
Construction	3.4%	4.8%	1.3	MO
Retail trade	5.3%	6.5%	1.2	MO
Management of companies	1.4%	2.2%	0.9	MO
Transportation & warehousing	4.0%	3.3%	0.7	IL
Manufacturing	11.3%	10.7%	0.6	IL
Information	4.2%	3.7%	0.5	IL
Agriculture	0.8%	1.2%	0.4	MO
Administrative & waste services	3.3%	2.9%	0.4	IL
Utilities	1.8%	1.6%	0.2	IL
Education	1.3%	1.1%	0.2	IL
Other services	2.1%	2.3%	0.2	MO
Real estate	12.8%	12.7%	0.1	IL
Mining, oil & gas	0.1%	0.2%	0.1	MO
Accommodation & food	3.0%	3.0%	0.0
Arts & recreation	1.1%	1.1%	0.0