North Carolina has the 7th best economy in the country, a report says. Here’s why
North Carolina’s economy has been ranked as featuring one of the top growing economies in the country.
According to WalletHub Financial Writer Adam McCann, the state has the 7th best economy in the nation.
North Carolina’s gross domestic product was nearly $655 billion in 2021, which represented 2.9% of the U.S. GDP, according to data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
To rank each economy, WalletHub compared the 50 states across three key categories: economic activity, economic health and innovation potential.
According to the report, North Carolina received its highest marks in innovation potential, coming in at No. 11. The score was calculated based on a number of metrics, including the share of jobs in high-tech industries, the share of jobs in STEM employment and entrepreneurial activity.
The Kauffman Index of Startup Activity, a comprehensive indicator of new business creation in the U.S. used to measure entrepreneurial activity in the report, ranked North Carolina 16th in the country for startup activity.
Based on surveys of residents and data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the study found that there are 340 new entrepreneurs for every 100,000 adults and 74.7 startups per 1,000 businesses in the state.
North Carolina ranked 12th for economic health, a position based on factors like the overall unemployment rate, foreclosure rate and median household income adjusted for cost of living, according to the report.
The report also ranked North Carolina 14th in economic activity, weighing metrics like the change in the state’s GDP between 2020 and 2021 and share of fast-growing firms on Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500 List, an annual ranking of the fastest-growing North American companies in the technology, media and science.
Washington state was ranked No. 1 in the report followed by Utah, California, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Colorado. Washington D.C. was ranked No. 10.
Seven North Carolina companies made the list last year, including Nufabrx, a biotechnology company based in Conover that grew by 22,957%, and MedShift, a Charlotte-based medical devices company that grew by 350% from 2017 to 2020.
