North Dakota vs South Dakota: two economies side by side

North Dakota 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.

PlainsNorth Dakota leads on 2, South Dakota on 9 of 11 measures

Indicator	A · ND	B · SD	Ranks
GDP, 2025	$82.3B	$82.0B	46 · 47
Real GDP growth, 2025	+0.47%	+1.8%	48 · 32
Real growth a year since 2015	+1.1%	+1.6%	45 · 30
GDP per person	$103,020	$87,694	8 · 21
Income per person, 2025	$77,438	$78,999	18 · 14
Real income per person (2017 $)	$65,271	$69,153	7 · 5
Price level (US = 100)	89.0	88.6	44 · 46
Housing costs (US = 100)	71.4	67.6	39 · 43
Unemployment, September 2026	2.2%	2.0%	2 · 1
Population	799,358	935,094	47 · 46
Population growth a year since 2020	+0.50%	+1.0%	27 · 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

North DakotaSouth Dakota

Fig. 2Unemployment rateMonthly, seasonally adjusted, since 2015

North DakotaSouth Dakota

Industry mix, 2025

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

Industry	ND	SD	Gap, pp	Larger in
Mining, oil & gas	13.9%	0.2%	13.7	ND
Finance & insurance	5.8%	18.3%	12.5	SD
Agriculture	5.7%	8.6%	2.9	SD
Transportation & warehousing	4.2%	2.2%	2.0	ND
Manufacturing	8.3%	6.5%	1.8	ND
Health care	7.9%	9.5%	1.7	SD
Wholesale trade	8.1%	6.6%	1.5	ND
Accommodation & food	2.4%	3.8%	1.4	SD
Construction	5.6%	4.3%	1.3	ND
Retail trade	5.7%	6.7%	1.0	SD
Professional services	3.1%	3.8%	0.7	SD
Utilities	2.4%	1.7%	0.7	ND
Government	10.4%	9.9%	0.5	ND
Real estate	9.2%	9.7%	0.5	SD
Other services	1.8%	2.1%	0.4	SD
Education	0.3%	0.5%	0.2	SD
Arts & recreation	0.5%	0.7%	0.2	SD
Information	2.3%	2.1%	0.2	ND
Management of companies	1.0%	1.1%	0.1	SD
Administrative & waste services	1.5%	1.6%	0.1	SD