Massachusetts vs New York: two economies side by side

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

New England · MideastMassachusetts leads on 5, New York on 5 of 11 measures

Indicator	A · MA	B · NY	Ranks
GDP, 2025	$813.6B	$2.47T	12 · 3
Real GDP growth, 2025	+1.3%	+2.5%	39 · 15
Real growth a year since 2015	+2.2%	+1.9%	21 · 25
GDP per person	$113,724	$123,273	4 · 2
Income per person, 2025	$98,700	$91,504	3 · 4
Real income per person (2017 $)	$71,629	$64,153	4 · 11
Price level (US = 100)	105.8	107.9	7 · 5
Housing costs (US = 100)	128.1	122.2	4 · 8
Unemployment, September 2026	4.3%	4.3%	35 · 36
Population	7,154,084	20,002,427	16 · 4
Population growth a year since 2020	+0.48%	−0.12%	28 · 47

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

MassachusettsNew York

Fig. 2Unemployment rateMonthly, seasonally adjusted, since 2015

MassachusettsNew York

Industry mix, 2025

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

Industry	MA	NY	Gap, pp	Larger in
Finance & insurance	9.2%	21.1%	11.9	NY
Professional services	13.8%	8.6%	5.2	MA
Manufacturing	8.4%	3.4%	4.9	MA
Health care	9.2%	7.4%	1.8	MA
Information	6.7%	8.3%	1.6	NY
Government	8.7%	9.6%	0.9	NY
Construction	3.6%	2.8%	0.9	MA
Education	2.8%	1.9%	0.8	MA
Management of companies	2.1%	1.5%	0.7	MA
Transportation & warehousing	2.2%	2.7%	0.5	NY
Wholesale trade	4.6%	4.1%	0.5	MA
Accommodation & food	3.2%	2.7%	0.5	MA
Arts & recreation	1.0%	1.3%	0.4	NY
Other services	1.9%	1.7%	0.2	MA
Real estate	14.1%	14.3%	0.2	NY
Administrative & waste services	2.7%	2.6%	0.1	MA
Retail trade	4.2%	4.3%	0.1	NY
Utilities	1.4%	1.4%	0.1	MA
Agriculture	0.1%	0.1%	0.0
Mining, oil & gas	0.1%	0.0%	0.0