Louisiana vs Texas: two economies side by side

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

Southeast · SouthwestLouisiana leads on 3, Texas on 8 of 11 measures

Indicator	A · LA	B · TX	Ranks
GDP, 2025	$342.3B	$2.93T	26 · 2
Real GDP growth, 2025	+1.5%	+2.8%	34 · 9
Real growth a year since 2015	+0.97%	+3.6%	48 · 6
GDP per person	$74,125	$92,474	39 · 14
Income per person, 2025	$64,103	$73,156	44 · 26
Real income per person (2017 $)	$56,789	$58,219	31 · 27
Price level (US = 100)	88.2	97.1	47 · 25
Housing costs (US = 100)	63.1	96.5	46 · 20
Unemployment, September 2026	4.0%	4.4%	28 · 38
Population	4,618,189	31,709,821	25 · 2
Population growth a year since 2020	−0.15%	+1.6%	49 · 4

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

LouisianaTexas

Fig. 2Unemployment rateMonthly, seasonally adjusted, since 2015

LouisianaTexas

Industry mix, 2025

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

Industry	LA	TX	Gap, pp	Larger in
Manufacturing	18.2%	11.3%	6.9	LA
Mining, oil & gas	3.4%	6.9%	3.5	TX
Wholesale trade	5.5%	8.6%	3.1	TX
Professional services	4.9%	7.5%	2.5	TX
Health care	8.0%	5.6%	2.4	LA
Information	1.7%	4.0%	2.2	TX
Finance & insurance	5.3%	7.4%	2.1	TX
Government	10.8%	9.0%	1.8	LA
Real estate	10.9%	12.7%	1.8	TX
Construction	6.0%	4.9%	1.2	LA
Retail trade	6.7%	5.7%	1.1	LA
Accommodation & food	3.3%	2.6%	0.6	LA
Arts & recreation	1.1%	0.6%	0.5	LA
Utilities	2.2%	1.8%	0.4	LA
Administrative & waste services	2.8%	3.2%	0.4	TX
Education	1.1%	0.7%	0.4	LA
Transportation & warehousing	4.2%	3.9%	0.4	LA
Other services	2.1%	1.8%	0.3	LA
Management of companies	1.1%	1.3%	0.2	TX
Agriculture	0.7%	0.6%	0.1	LA