Montana vs South Dakota: two economies side by side

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

Rocky Mountain · PlainsMontana leads on 3, South Dakota on 8 of 11 measures

Indicator	A · MT	B · SD	Ranks
GDP, 2025	$80.9B	$82.0B	48 · 47
Real GDP growth, 2025	+2.0%	+1.8%	24 · 32
Real growth a year since 2015	+2.5%	+1.6%	17 · 30
GDP per person	$70,713	$87,694	43 · 21
Income per person, 2025	$72,066	$78,999	27 · 14
Real income per person (2017 $)	$59,203	$69,153	20 · 5
Price level (US = 100)	94.6	88.6	30 · 46
Housing costs (US = 100)	84.6	67.6	28 · 43
Unemployment, September 2026	3.1%	2.0%	8 · 1
Population	1,144,694	935,094	43 · 46
Population growth a year since 2020	+1.0%	+1.0%	13 · 10

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

MontanaSouth Dakota

Fig. 2Unemployment rateMonthly, seasonally adjusted, since 2015

MontanaSouth Dakota

Industry mix, 2025

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

Industry	MT	SD	Gap, pp	Larger in
Finance & insurance	6.0%	18.3%	12.3	SD
Agriculture	3.1%	8.6%	5.6	SD
Real estate	14.6%	9.7%	4.9	MT
Professional services	6.5%	3.8%	2.7	MT
Mining, oil & gas	2.9%	0.2%	2.6	MT
Government	12.4%	9.9%	2.6	MT
Construction	6.3%	4.3%	2.0	MT
Transportation & warehousing	3.9%	2.2%	1.7	MT
Manufacturing	5.0%	6.5%	1.5	SD
Administrative & waste services	2.6%	1.6%	1.1	MT
Information	3.1%	2.1%	0.9	MT
Wholesale trade	5.7%	6.6%	0.9	SD
Accommodation & food	4.6%	3.8%	0.8	MT
Management of companies	0.4%	1.1%	0.6	SD
Arts & recreation	1.3%	0.7%	0.6	MT
Retail trade	7.1%	6.7%	0.5	MT
Utilities	1.9%	1.7%	0.3	MT
Health care	9.8%	9.5%	0.2	MT
Other services	2.2%	2.1%	0.1	MT
Education	0.5%	0.5%	0.0