Virginia vs West Virginia: two economies side by side

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

SoutheastVirginia leads on 8, West Virginia on 3 of 11 measures

Indicator	A · VA	B · WV	Ranks
GDP, 2025	$807.9B	$111.3B	13 · 43
Real GDP growth, 2025	+2.3%	+2.8%	18 · 10
Real growth a year since 2015	+2.4%	+1.4%	19 · 38
GDP per person	$90,981	$63,020	15 · 49
Income per person, 2025	$80,903	$58,217	12 · 50
Real income per person (2017 $)	$61,914	$50,051	15 · 50
Price level (US = 100)	101.1	89.5	16 · 43
Housing costs (US = 100)	106.8	54.2	17 · 51
Unemployment, September 2026	3.6%	4.0%	24 · 30
Population	8,880,107	1,766,147	12 · 39
Population growth a year since 2020	+0.56%	−0.29%	23 · 51

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

VirginiaWest Virginia

Fig. 2Unemployment rateMonthly, seasonally adjusted, since 2015

VirginiaWest Virginia

Industry mix, 2025

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

Industry	VA	WV	Gap, pp	Larger in
Mining, oil & gas	0.3%	13.9%	13.7	WV
Professional services	12.4%	4.4%	8.0	VA
Health care	6.6%	11.5%	4.9	WV
Real estate	14.1%	10.1%	4.0	VA
Information	4.5%	1.9%	2.6	VA
Finance & insurance	6.4%	4.3%	2.1	VA
Management of companies	2.6%	0.9%	1.7	VA
Government	16.2%	14.6%	1.6	VA
Retail trade	5.5%	6.9%	1.4	WV
Utilities	1.6%	2.8%	1.2	WV
Manufacturing	7.3%	8.3%	1.0	WV
Administrative & waste services	3.2%	2.6%	0.6	VA
Construction	4.9%	4.2%	0.6	VA
Other services	2.4%	2.0%	0.4	VA
Education	0.8%	0.5%	0.3	VA
Wholesale trade	4.8%	4.6%	0.2	VA
Agriculture	0.3%	0.5%	0.2	WV
Arts & recreation	0.7%	0.6%	0.2	VA
Transportation & warehousing	2.7%	2.5%	0.2	VA
Accommodation & food	2.8%	3.0%	0.2	WV