Louisiana vs Mississippi: two economies side by side

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

SoutheastLouisiana leads on 6, Mississippi on 5 of 11 measures

Indicator	A · LA	B · MS	Ranks
GDP, 2025	$342.3B	$162.8B	26 · 37
Real GDP growth, 2025	+1.5%	+1.3%	34 · 40
Real growth a year since 2015	+0.97%	+1.2%	48 · 41
GDP per person	$74,125	$55,117	39 · 51
Income per person, 2025	$64,103	$54,433	44 · 51
Real income per person (2017 $)	$56,789	$48,465	31 · 51
Price level (US = 100)	88.2	87.0	47 · 50
Housing costs (US = 100)	63.1	56.5	46 · 50
Unemployment, September 2026	4.0%	3.3%	28 · 13
Population	4,618,189	2,954,160	25 · 35
Population growth a year since 2020	−0.15%	−0.03%	49 · 45

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

LouisianaMississippi

Fig. 2Unemployment rateMonthly, seasonally adjusted, since 2015

LouisianaMississippi

Industry mix, 2025

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

Industry	LA	MS	Gap, pp	Larger in
Government	10.8%	16.0%	5.2	MS
Manufacturing	18.2%	14.9%	3.3	LA
Mining, oil & gas	3.4%	0.5%	2.9	LA
Construction	6.0%	3.7%	2.3	LA
Retail trade	6.7%	8.2%	1.5	MS
Real estate	10.9%	12.3%	1.4	MS
Professional services	4.9%	3.7%	1.2	LA
Agriculture	0.7%	1.8%	1.1	MS
Utilities	2.2%	3.1%	0.9	MS
Finance & insurance	5.3%	5.9%	0.6	MS
Accommodation & food	3.3%	3.9%	0.6	MS
Arts & recreation	1.1%	0.6%	0.5	LA
Education	1.1%	0.6%	0.4	LA
Health care	8.0%	7.6%	0.4	LA
Wholesale trade	5.5%	5.3%	0.2	LA
Transportation & warehousing	4.2%	4.0%	0.2	LA
Other services	2.1%	2.2%	0.2	MS
Administrative & waste services	2.8%	2.8%	0.0
Management of companies	1.1%	1.1%	0.0
Information	1.7%	1.7%	0.0