You hear a lot that Texas is the economic leader.  So how do we really compare?  Here are the latest numbers, and they are impressive, especially the fact that Texas accounts for almost nine percent of the nation's economy. 

Bill Hammond
President & CEO
Texas Association of Business

Texas Is the Future

By BINYAMIN APPELBAUM

Some interesting tidbits about the economic health of the 50 states, from the government’s annual estimate of growth by state, released Tuesday:

Six state economies shrank last year.

While the nation’s gross domestic product grew by 1.7 percent in 2011, economic output shrank in five states: Wyoming, down 1.2 percent; Alabama, down 0.8 percent; Mississippi, also down 0.8 percent; Maine, down 0.4 percent; New Jersey, down 0.5 percent; and Hawaii, down 0.2 percent.

Only one of those states, Wyoming, also declined in 2010.

Manufacturing is the past future.

Increased production of durable goods was the largest contributor to growth in 26 states. Oregon benefited most. The state’s economy expanded by 4.7 percent last year undefined and more than 80 percent of the growth came from manufacturing.

In Michigan, manufacturing accounted for half of the 2.3 percent expansion.

Resource extraction is the future.

Excepting Oregon, fuel states posted the strongest growth. North Dakota’s economy expanded by 7.6 percent; West Virginia’s, 4.5 percent; Alaska’s, 2.5 percent.

Or maybe Texas is the future.

The Texas economy grew 3.3 percent in 2011, and the growth was broad-based. Not just oil, not just manufacturing. Texas now accounts for 8.7 percent of the nation’s economy, up from 7.4 percent a decade ago.