Missouri vs Tennessee: two economies side by side

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

Plains · SoutheastMissouri leads on 3, Tennessee on 8 of 11 measures

Indicator	A · MO	B · TN	Ranks
GDP, 2025	$475.4B	$586.2B	22 · 16
Real GDP growth, 2025	+1.2%	+2.1%	42 · 21
Real growth a year since 2015	+1.6%	+2.9%	31 · 11
GDP per person	$75,811	$80,137	38 · 30
Income per person, 2025	$69,836	$69,274	31 · 32
Real income per person (2017 $)	$57,850	$58,582	28 · 25
Price level (US = 100)	90.8	91.9	39 · 38
Housing costs (US = 100)	69.9	79.1	42 · 33
Unemployment, September 2026	3.6%	3.4%	21 · 17
Population	6,270,541	7,315,076	18 · 15
Population growth a year since 2020	+0.37%	+1.1%	32 · 9

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

MissouriTennessee

Fig. 2Unemployment rateMonthly, seasonally adjusted, since 2015

MissouriTennessee

Industry mix, 2025

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

Industry	MO	TN	Gap, pp	Larger in
Finance & insurance	9.2%	6.4%	2.8	MO
Transportation & warehousing	3.3%	4.6%	1.3	TN
Accommodation & food	3.0%	4.3%	1.3	TN
Arts & recreation	1.1%	2.0%	0.9	TN
Manufacturing	10.7%	11.6%	0.9	TN
Agriculture	1.2%	0.3%	0.9	MO
Administrative & waste services	2.9%	3.6%	0.7	TN
Retail trade	6.5%	7.2%	0.7	TN
Management of companies	2.2%	1.6%	0.7	MO
Construction	4.8%	4.1%	0.6	MO
Government	10.3%	9.8%	0.5	MO
Wholesale trade	7.0%	7.4%	0.4	TN
Professional services	6.8%	6.4%	0.4	MO
Utilities	1.6%	1.3%	0.3	MO
Education	1.1%	1.0%	0.2	MO
Health care	9.3%	9.2%	0.1	MO
Other services	2.3%	2.4%	0.1	TN
Information	3.7%	3.8%	0.1	TN
Real estate	12.7%	12.6%	0.0
Mining, oil & gas	0.2%	0.3%	0.0