Nebraska vs South Dakota: two economies side by side

Nebraska 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.

PlainsNebraska leads on 4, South Dakota on 7 of 11 measures

Indicator	A · NE	B · SD	Ranks
GDP, 2025	$206.6B	$82.0B	34 · 47
Real GDP growth, 2025	+1.3%	+1.8%	41 · 32
Real growth a year since 2015	+2.7%	+1.6%	14 · 30
GDP per person	$102,386	$87,694	9 · 21
Income per person, 2025	$76,055	$78,999	20 · 14
Real income per person (2017 $)	$65,297	$69,153	6 · 5
Price level (US = 100)	90.1	88.6	41 · 46
Housing costs (US = 100)	75.2	67.6	35 · 43
Unemployment, September 2026	2.9%	2.0%	6 · 1
Population	2,018,006	935,094	38 · 46
Population growth a year since 2020	+0.55%	+1.0%	24 · 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

NebraskaSouth Dakota

Fig. 2Unemployment rateMonthly, seasonally adjusted, since 2015

NebraskaSouth Dakota

Industry mix, 2025

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

Industry	NE	SD	Gap, pp	Larger in
Agriculture	5.1%	8.6%	3.5	SD
Transportation & warehousing	5.0%	2.2%	2.8	NE
Manufacturing	9.2%	6.5%	2.7	NE
Health care	6.9%	9.5%	2.6	SD
Retail trade	4.9%	6.7%	1.8	SD
Utilities	3.3%	1.7%	1.6	NE
Accommodation & food	2.2%	3.8%	1.6	SD
Real estate	8.5%	9.7%	1.2	SD
Information	3.3%	2.1%	1.1	NE
Finance & insurance	19.1%	18.3%	0.8	NE
Administrative & waste services	2.3%	1.6%	0.7	NE
Management of companies	1.6%	1.1%	0.6	NE
Government	10.2%	9.9%	0.4	NE
Construction	4.7%	4.3%	0.3	NE
Professional services	4.1%	3.8%	0.3	NE
Wholesale trade	6.3%	6.6%	0.2	SD
Other services	1.9%	2.1%	0.2	SD
Mining, oil & gas	0.1%	0.2%	0.1	SD
Arts & recreation	0.5%	0.7%	0.1	SD
Education	0.6%	0.5%	0.1	NE