Out of all 50 states, New York had the highest per-capita real gross domestic product (GDP) in 2023, at 90,730 U.S. dollars, followed closely by Massachusetts. Mississippi had the lowest per-capita real GDP, at 39,102 U.S. dollars. While not a state, the District of Columbia had a per capita GDP of more than 214,000 U.S. dollars. What is real GDP? A country’s real GDP is a measure that shows the value of the goods and services produced by an economy and is adjusted for inflation. The real GDP of a country helps economists to see the health of a country’s economy and its standard of living. Downturns in GDP growth can indicate financial difficulties, such as the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009, when the U.S. GDP decreased by 2.5 percent. The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on U.S. GDP, shrinking the economy 2.8 percent. The U.S. economy rebounded in 2021, however, growing by nearly six percent. Why real GDP per capita matters Real GDP per capita takes the GDP of a country, state, or metropolitan area and divides it by the number of people in that area. Some argue that per-capita GDP is more important than the GDP of a country, as it is a good indicator of whether or not the country’s population is getting wealthier, thus increasing the standard of living in that area. The best measure of standard of living when comparing across countries is thought to be GDP per capita at purchasing power parity (PPP) which uses the prices of specific goods to compare the absolute purchasing power of a countries currency.

This dataset provides economic indicators for FUAs of more than 250 000 inhabitants, including GDP, GDP per capita, jobs and labour productivity.

   <h3>Data sources and methodology</h3>
   <p align="justify">
   When economic statistics are unavailable at a more granular level than the FUA (e.g. municipal level), indicators are estimated by adjusting regional (OECD TL2 and TL3 regions) values to FUA boundaries, based on the population distribution in each region. Regional values (GDP and jobs) in TL3 regions are used as data inputs and combined with gridded population data <a href=https://doi.org/10.2760/098587>(European Commission, GHSL Data Package 2023)</a>. FUA boundaries are intersected with TL3 borders to compute the share of the regional population that lives within FUAs in each region. This share is then applied to the variable of interest (e.g. GDP) and allocated to the FUA. In case several regions intersect the FUA, the adjusted values of intersecting regions are summed. For countries where TL3-level data is not available, data for TL2 regions is used. This approach assumes that the variable of interest has the same spatial distribution as population. Therefore, the modelled indicators should be interpreted with caution.<br /><br />
   When a more granular level is available, data is aggregated for each FUA. For example in the United States, GDP estimates are available at the county-level (<a href=https://www.bea.gov/data/employment/employment-county-metro-and-other-areas>US Bureau of Economic Analysis</a>), and then aggregated by FUA.
   </p>

   <h3>Defining FUAs and cities</h3>
   <p align="justify">The OECD, in cooperation with the EU, has developed a harmonised <a href="https://www.oecd.org/en/data/datasets/oecd-definition-of-cities-and-functional-urban-areas.html">definition of functional urban areas</a> (FUAs) to capture the economic and functional reach of cities based on daily commuting patterns <a href=https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264174108-en>(OECD, 2012)</a>. FUAs consist of:
   <ol>
   <li><b>A city</b> – defined by urban centres in the degree of urbanisation, adapted to the closest local administrative units to define a city.</li>
   <li><b>A commuting zone</b> – including all local areas where at least 15% of employed residents work in the city.</li>
   </ol>
   The delineation process includes:
   <ul>
   <li>Assigning municipalities surrounded by a single FUA to that FUA.</li>
   <li>Excluding non-contiguous municipalities.</li>
   </ul>
   The definition identifies 1 285 FUAs and 1 402 cities in all OECD member countries except Costa Rica and three accession countries.</p>
   <h3>Cite this dataset</h3>
   <p>OECD Regions, cities and local areas database (<a href="http://data-explorer.oecd.org/s/1e5">Economy - FUAs</a>), <a href=http://oe.cd/geostats>http://oe.cd/geostats</a></p>

   <h3>Further information</h3>
   <ul> 
   <li> <a href=https://localdataportal.oecd.org/>OECD Local Data Portal </a> </li>
   <li> <a href=https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/oecd-regions-and-cities-at-a-glance-2024_f42db3bf-en.html/>OECD Regions and Cities at a Glance </a> </li>
   </ul>
   <p align="justify">For questions and/or comments, please email <a href="mailto:CitiesStat@oecd.org">CitiesStat@oecd.org</a>