Oregon vs Washington: two economies side by side

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

Far WestOregon leads on 2, Washington on 9 of 11 measures

Indicator	A · OR	B · WA	Ranks
GDP, 2025	$343.2B	$892.3B	25 · 10
Real GDP growth, 2025	+1.4%	+3.2%	38 · 5
Real growth a year since 2015	+2.6%	+4.1%	16 · 3
GDP per person	$80,317	$111,518	28 · 5
Income per person, 2025	$73,283	$88,944	25 · 8
Real income per person (2017 $)	$55,451	$64,421	37 · 10
Price level (US = 100)	103.4	107.0	12 · 6
Housing costs (US = 100)	108.6	126.0	14 · 6
Unemployment, September 2026	5.0%	4.8%	48 · 45
Population	4,273,586	8,001,020	27 · 13
Population growth a year since 2020	+0.14%	+0.70%	39 · 17

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

OregonWashington

Fig. 2Unemployment rateMonthly, seasonally adjusted, since 2015

OregonWashington

Industry mix, 2025

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

Industry	OR	WA	Gap, pp	Larger in
Information	4.7%	17.9%	13.2	WA
Retail trade	5.7%	9.4%	3.8	WA
Health care	9.7%	6.1%	3.7	OR
Manufacturing	10.1%	7.0%	3.1	OR
Real estate	15.1%	12.9%	2.2	OR
Government	12.9%	11.1%	1.8	OR
Professional services	6.3%	8.0%	1.7	WA
Finance & insurance	5.3%	3.6%	1.7	OR
Management of companies	2.8%	1.4%	1.5	OR
Agriculture	1.8%	0.9%	0.9	OR
Construction	4.8%	3.9%	0.9	OR
Utilities	1.7%	0.9%	0.8	OR
Accommodation & food	3.3%	2.7%	0.5	OR
Other services	2.4%	1.9%	0.5	OR
Wholesale trade	5.8%	5.4%	0.4	OR
Education	0.8%	0.5%	0.3	OR
Administrative & waste services	2.8%	2.6%	0.2	OR
Arts & recreation	0.9%	0.7%	0.2	OR
Mining, oil & gas	0.1%	0.1%	0.1	OR
Transportation & warehousing	3.0%	3.1%	0.1	WA