Iowa vs Wisconsin: two economies side by side

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

Plains · Great LakesIowa leads on 5, Wisconsin on 5 of 11 measures

Indicator	A · IA	B · WI	Ranks
GDP, 2025	$271.9B	$478.8B	32 · 21
Real GDP growth, 2025	−0.43%	+0.82%	50 · 45
Real growth a year since 2015	+0.97%	+1.4%	49 · 35
GDP per person	$83,973	$80,160	24 · 29
Income per person, 2025	$67,321	$71,219	38 · 29
Real income per person (2017 $)	$60,144	$58,273	19 · 26
Price level (US = 100)	87.8	94.1	49 · 32
Housing costs (US = 100)	65.3	79.3	44 · 32
Unemployment, September 2026	3.2%	3.2%	9 · 10
Population	3,238,387	5,972,787	32 · 21
Population growth a year since 2020	+0.29%	+0.25%	34 · 37

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

IowaWisconsin

Fig. 2Unemployment rateMonthly, seasonally adjusted, since 2015

IowaWisconsin

Industry mix, 2025

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

Industry	IA	WI	Gap, pp	Larger in
Finance & insurance	15.7%	9.6%	6.1	IA
Agriculture	5.2%	1.4%	3.8	IA
Real estate	8.8%	11.9%	3.1	WI
Health care	6.2%	8.7%	2.5	WI
Information	2.5%	4.1%	1.5	WI
Professional services	3.7%	5.0%	1.3	WI
Management of companies	1.6%	2.4%	0.9	WI
Accommodation & food	2.2%	2.9%	0.7	WI
Manufacturing	16.8%	16.1%	0.7	IA
Government	10.6%	10.0%	0.6	IA
Administrative & waste services	2.0%	2.4%	0.4	WI
Education	0.8%	1.1%	0.3	WI
Retail trade	5.6%	5.9%	0.2	WI
Other services	2.0%	2.3%	0.2	WI
Transportation & warehousing	3.2%	3.0%	0.2	IA
Wholesale trade	6.0%	6.1%	0.1	WI
Utilities	1.6%	1.5%	0.1	IA
Mining, oil & gas	0.2%	0.2%	0.0
Construction	4.5%	4.6%	0.0
Arts & recreation	0.8%	0.9%	0.0