Kentucky vs Ohio: two economies side by side

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

Southeast · Great LakesKentucky leads on 5, Ohio on 6 of 11 measures

Indicator	A · KY	B · OH	Ranks
GDP, 2025	$313.6B	$976.9B	29 · 7
Real GDP growth, 2025	+3.0%	+2.4%	7 · 17
Real growth a year since 2015	+1.8%	+1.5%	26 · 33
GDP per person	$68,065	$82,087	44 · 26
Income per person, 2025	$60,835	$67,584	48 · 37
Real income per person (2017 $)	$52,290	$56,232	46 · 34
Price level (US = 100)	90.2	92.8	40 · 35
Housing costs (US = 100)	64.3	73.0	45 · 38
Unemployment, September 2026	4.7%	3.4%	42 · 16
Population	4,606,864	11,900,510	26 · 7
Population growth a year since 2020	+0.43%	+0.17%	29 · 38

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

KentuckyOhio

Fig. 2Unemployment rateMonthly, seasonally adjusted, since 2015

KentuckyOhio

Industry mix, 2025

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

Industry	KY	OH	Gap, pp	Larger in
Finance & insurance	7.5%	13.3%	5.8	OH
Government	12.1%	10.0%	2.1	KY
Manufacturing	15.7%	13.6%	2.1	KY
Transportation & warehousing	5.1%	3.2%	1.9	KY
Management of companies	1.1%	2.9%	1.8	OH
Wholesale trade	8.1%	6.4%	1.7	KY
Professional services	4.3%	5.5%	1.2	OH
Real estate	11.2%	12.2%	1.0	OH
Accommodation & food	3.4%	2.5%	0.8	KY
Health care	9.0%	8.5%	0.6	KY
Agriculture	1.2%	0.7%	0.5	KY
Mining, oil & gas	0.8%	0.3%	0.5	KY
Retail trade	6.3%	5.9%	0.4	KY
Arts & recreation	0.6%	0.9%	0.4	OH
Information	2.2%	2.6%	0.3	OH
Construction	4.0%	4.2%	0.2	OH
Education	0.6%	0.8%	0.2	OH
Administrative & waste services	3.0%	2.8%	0.2	KY
Other services	2.1%	2.1%	0.1	KY
Utilities	1.7%	1.7%	0.0