Washington leads as top state economy; See where your state falls on the list

(TND) — Washington, Utah, Massachusetts, Texas and California have the best state economies, according to a new report from WalletHub.

The personal finance company used 28 indicators grouped into three categories – economic activity, economic health and innovation potential – to rank state economies.

“Having a strong state economy doesn't necessarily guarantee success for the state's residents, but it certainly helps to make such financial success attainable for them,” WalletHub Analyst Cassandra Happe said.

Mississippi, Hawaii, West Virginia, Arkansas and Louisiana ranked at the bottom.

Overall No. 1 Washington was first in the economic activity category, 15th in economic health, and second in innovation potential.

“When it came to economic health, we looked at things like the unemployment rate, and the underemployment rate, and the change in the total civilian labor force to get a sense of how healthy the economy is right now,” Happe said.

The innovation potential category included things like the share of high-tech industries, independent investor patents, and research and development investing.

Massachusetts topped the innovation potential category.

Utah was tops in economic health.

California and Texas, the two most populous states, made the top five of the WalletHub list. But Happe said they tried to level the playing field for smaller states by using per capita metrics.

Washington, which ranked as having the best state economy, has the 13th most people.

North Dakota, Texas, Wyoming, Alaska and Oklahoma saw the highest change in gross domestic product, according to WalletHub.

Florida, Utah, Nevada, Idaho and Colorado had the most start-up activity.

North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, Nebraska and Maryland have the lowest unemployment rates.

The national unemployment rate is 3.9%, the longest streak of below 4% unemployment in half a century. North Dakota and South Dakota had unemployment rates of just 2% at last report from the Labor Department.

RELATED STORY: Inflation shows sign of cooling, but experts pour cold water on hope of interest rate cuts

Virginia, Utah, Minnesota, New Jersey and Colorado had the highest median annual household incomes after adjusting for the cost of living.

Massachusetts, Washington and California – all in the top five overall – were joined by New Mexico and New Hampshire as having the highest share of jobs in high-tech industries.

Find a sortable list of all 50 states on the WalletHub website.