Nebraska vs Wyoming: two economies side by side

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

Plains · Rocky MountainNebraska leads on 8, Wyoming on 3 of 11 measures

Indicator	A · NE	B · WY	Ranks
GDP, 2025	$206.6B	$52.5B	34 · 50
Real GDP growth, 2025	+1.3%	+0.13%	41 · 49
Real growth a year since 2015	+2.7%	+0.02%	14 · 51
GDP per person	$102,386	$89,157	9 · 19
Income per person, 2025	$76,055	$91,109	20 · 5
Real income per person (2017 $)	$65,297	$75,501	6 · 2
Price level (US = 100)	90.1	92.7	41 · 36
Housing costs (US = 100)	75.2	71.1	35 · 41
Unemployment, September 2026	2.9%	3.0%	6 · 7
Population	2,018,006	588,753	38 · 51
Population growth a year since 2020	+0.55%	+0.38%	24 · 31

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

NebraskaWyoming

Fig. 2Unemployment rateMonthly, seasonally adjusted, since 2015

NebraskaWyoming

Industry mix, 2025

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

Industry	NE	WY	Gap, pp	Larger in
Finance & insurance	19.1%	3.9%	15.3	NE
Mining, oil & gas	0.1%	11.6%	11.5	WY
Government	10.2%	15.5%	5.2	WY
Real estate	8.5%	13.0%	4.5	WY
Agriculture	5.1%	1.7%	3.4	NE
Wholesale trade	6.3%	3.7%	2.7	NE
Transportation & warehousing	5.0%	7.7%	2.7	WY
Health care	6.9%	4.5%	2.4	NE
Accommodation & food	2.2%	4.0%	1.8	WY
Construction	4.7%	6.3%	1.6	WY
Manufacturing	9.2%	7.7%	1.5	NE
Information	3.3%	1.8%	1.5	NE
Retail trade	4.9%	6.1%	1.2	WY
Management of companies	1.6%	0.5%	1.1	NE
Arts & recreation	0.5%	1.1%	0.6	WY
Utilities	3.3%	2.8%	0.5	NE
Administrative & waste services	2.3%	1.9%	0.4	NE
Education	0.6%	0.4%	0.2	NE
Professional services	4.1%	4.2%	0.1	WY
Other services	1.9%	1.8%	0.1	NE