Iowa vs Nebraska: two economies side by side

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

PlainsIowa leads on 4, Nebraska on 7 of 11 measures

Indicator	A · IA	B · NE	Ranks
GDP, 2025	$271.9B	$206.6B	32 · 34
Real GDP growth, 2025	−0.43%	+1.3%	50 · 41
Real growth a year since 2015	+0.97%	+2.7%	49 · 14
GDP per person	$83,973	$102,386	24 · 9
Income per person, 2025	$67,321	$76,055	38 · 20
Real income per person (2017 $)	$60,144	$65,297	19 · 6
Price level (US = 100)	87.8	90.1	49 · 41
Housing costs (US = 100)	65.3	75.2	44 · 35
Unemployment, September 2026	3.2%	2.9%	9 · 6
Population	3,238,387	2,018,006	32 · 38
Population growth a year since 2020	+0.29%	+0.55%	34 · 24

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

IowaNebraska

Fig. 2Unemployment rateMonthly, seasonally adjusted, since 2015

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Industry mix, 2025

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

Industry	IA	NE	Gap, pp	Larger in
Manufacturing	16.8%	9.2%	7.6	IA
Finance & insurance	15.7%	19.1%	3.4	NE
Transportation & warehousing	3.2%	5.0%	1.8	NE
Utilities	1.6%	3.3%	1.7	NE
Information	2.5%	3.3%	0.8	NE
Retail trade	5.6%	4.9%	0.7	IA
Health care	6.2%	6.9%	0.7	NE
Professional services	3.7%	4.1%	0.4	NE
Government	10.6%	10.2%	0.4	IA
Wholesale trade	6.0%	6.3%	0.4	NE
Arts & recreation	0.8%	0.5%	0.3	IA
Administrative & waste services	2.0%	2.3%	0.3	NE
Real estate	8.8%	8.5%	0.3	IA
Education	0.8%	0.6%	0.2	IA
Other services	2.0%	1.9%	0.1	IA
Construction	4.5%	4.7%	0.1	NE
Mining, oil & gas	0.2%	0.1%	0.1	IA
Agriculture	5.2%	5.1%	0.1	IA
Management of companies	1.6%	1.6%	0.0
Accommodation & food	2.2%	2.2%	0.0