Iowa vs South Dakota: two economies side by side

Iowa and South Dakota 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, South Dakota on 7 of 11 measures

Indicator	A · IA	B · SD	Ranks
GDP, 2025	$271.9B	$82.0B	32 · 47
Real GDP growth, 2025	−0.43%	+1.8%	50 · 32
Real growth a year since 2015	+0.97%	+1.6%	49 · 30
GDP per person	$83,973	$87,694	24 · 21
Income per person, 2025	$67,321	$78,999	38 · 14
Real income per person (2017 $)	$60,144	$69,153	19 · 5
Price level (US = 100)	87.8	88.6	49 · 46
Housing costs (US = 100)	65.3	67.6	44 · 43
Unemployment, September 2026	3.2%	2.0%	9 · 1
Population	3,238,387	935,094	32 · 46
Population growth a year since 2020	+0.29%	+1.0%	34 · 10

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

IowaSouth Dakota

Fig. 2Unemployment rateMonthly, seasonally adjusted, since 2015

IowaSouth Dakota

Industry mix, 2025

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

Industry	IA	SD	Gap, pp	Larger in
Manufacturing	16.8%	6.5%	10.3	IA
Agriculture	5.2%	8.6%	3.4	SD
Health care	6.2%	9.5%	3.3	SD
Finance & insurance	15.7%	18.3%	2.6	SD
Accommodation & food	2.2%	3.8%	1.6	SD
Retail trade	5.6%	6.7%	1.0	SD
Transportation & warehousing	3.2%	2.2%	1.0	IA
Real estate	8.8%	9.7%	0.9	SD
Government	10.6%	9.9%	0.7	IA
Wholesale trade	6.0%	6.6%	0.6	SD
Management of companies	1.6%	1.1%	0.5	IA
Administrative & waste services	2.0%	1.6%	0.4	IA
Information	2.5%	2.1%	0.4	IA
Construction	4.5%	4.3%	0.2	IA
Education	0.8%	0.5%	0.2	IA
Arts & recreation	0.8%	0.7%	0.2	IA
Professional services	3.7%	3.8%	0.2	SD
Utilities	1.6%	1.7%	0.1	SD
Other services	2.0%	2.1%	0.1	SD
Mining, oil & gas	0.2%	0.2%	0.1	SD