Mississippi vs. the World
GDP per capita, price-level adjusted (2024). The poorest U.S. state still rivals major economies.
The hook: even America’s poorest state lands ahead of the UK, Italy, Japan, and Spain on a price-adjusted basis.
Mississippi has the lowest GDP per capita of any U.S. state. Adjust to local prices, what a dollar actually buys, and it still lands ahead of much of Western Europe and the Pacific Rim.
A note on methodology. Country values are IMF PPP, built from a global basket. The Mississippi value is nominal state GDP per capita divided by BEA’s Regional Price Parity, a U.S.-anchored basket. Same kind of adjustment, different scales. They aren’t identical statistical objects, but for developed economies the gap is small enough that a stricter construction wouldn’t move the bar visibly. Read MS as where it would land if we extended IMF’s logic into a single U.S. state.
The math: MS nominal GDP per capita was $53,061 in 2024. RPP was 87.0 (U.S. = 100). $53,061 / 0.870 ≈ $60,990.
Caveats. GDP per capita flatters the U.S. in a few ways worth naming.
- Output, not income. GDP per capita captures production, not paychecks. Different metrics in theory, but the big-picture ranking doesn’t change that much with median household disposable income either.
- A mean hides distribution. U.S. income inequality is wider than its peers. A high average says little about typical experience.
- PPP smooths the basket, not what’s in it. Universal healthcare, paid leave, and transit access don’t price out the same way across systems.
- State borders leak. Mississippi residents commute, retire, and shop across them. National borders are stickier.