Indiana vs Kentucky: two economies side by side

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

Great Lakes · SoutheastIndiana leads on 8, Kentucky on 3 of 11 measures

Indicator	A · IN	B · KY	Ranks
GDP, 2025	$542.5B	$313.6B	19 · 29
Real GDP growth, 2025	+1.9%	+3.0%	28 · 7
Real growth a year since 2015	+2.2%	+1.8%	23 · 26
GDP per person	$77,790	$68,065	34 · 44
Income per person, 2025	$66,455	$60,835	40 · 48
Real income per person (2017 $)	$55,562	$52,290	36 · 46
Price level (US = 100)	93.3	90.2	34 · 40
Housing costs (US = 100)	73.9	64.3	36 · 45
Unemployment, September 2026	3.4%	4.7%	14 · 42
Population	6,973,333	4,606,864	17 · 26
Population growth a year since 2020	+0.53%	+0.43%	25 · 29

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

IndianaKentucky

Fig. 2Unemployment rateMonthly, seasonally adjusted, since 2015

IndianaKentucky

Industry mix, 2025

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

Industry	IN	KY	Gap, pp	Larger in
Manufacturing	23.8%	15.7%	8.1	IN
Government	8.3%	12.1%	3.9	KY
Wholesale trade	6.4%	8.1%	1.7	KY
Transportation & warehousing	3.7%	5.1%	1.4	KY
Construction	5.2%	4.0%	1.3	IN
Finance & insurance	6.2%	7.5%	1.3	KY
Professional services	5.1%	4.3%	0.8	IN
Information	1.6%	2.2%	0.6	KY
Health care	8.4%	9.0%	0.6	KY
Arts & recreation	1.1%	0.6%	0.5	IN
Retail trade	5.8%	6.3%	0.5	KY
Mining, oil & gas	0.3%	0.8%	0.4	KY
Accommodation & food	2.9%	3.4%	0.4	KY
Real estate	10.8%	11.2%	0.4	KY
Education	1.0%	0.6%	0.4	IN
Administrative & waste services	2.7%	3.0%	0.3	KY
Utilities	1.9%	1.7%	0.2	IN
Other services	2.2%	2.1%	0.1	IN
Agriculture	1.3%	1.2%	0.1	IN
Management of companies	1.1%	1.1%	0.0