Pick any two cities or towns in the United States, and each will be home to people who work in very similar fields. Certain occupations in areas like education, sanitation, law enforcement, health care, and retail are common across the country as they are practical necessities.
Still, the occupational makeup of different parts of the country varies in other important ways that are influenced by the regions’ history, geography, natural resources, local laws, and demographics. These factors can have considerable economic implications and lay the foundation of a given area’s industry composition.
In Georgia, monetary authorities- central bank, credit intermediation, and related services is the largest industry, accounting for 5.2% of the state’s total GDP of $625.7 billion. The industry’s annual economic output totals $32.3 billion, a 28.6% increase over the last five years.
Overall employment in the industry totals about 7,600, or 0.2% of all jobs in Georgia. Among these workers, the average annual compensation is $90,592, compared to the average of $55,263 across all occupations in the state.
All data in this story on employment and output is from the Bureau of Economic Analysis and is for 2019, the most recent year for which data is available. Data on wages is from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. With only a few exceptions, the largest industry in each state is real estate. As a result, we did not include the real estate sector in our analysis. We also excluded all government sectors.
| Largest industry | GDP of largest industry, ($, billions) | Largest industry GDP as share of all industries (%) | Employment in largest industry | Average annual compensation in largest industry ($) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama: Ambulatory health care services | 10.4 | 4.5 | 100,031 | 64,553 |
| Alaska: Pipeline transportation | 4.8 | 8.9 | N/A | N/A |
| Arizona: Ambulatory health care services | 17.0 | 4.6 | 172,433 | 63,809 |
| Arkansas: Ambulatory health care services | 5.8 | 4.4 | 59,796 | 64,186 |
| California: Computer and electronic product manufacturing | 110.3 | 3.5 | 281,023 | 185,714 |
| Colorado: Ambulatory health care services | 14.0 | 3.6 | 139,996 | 63,608 |
| Connecticut: Insurance | 23.0 | 8.0 | 61,923 | 138,398 |
| Delaware: Monetary authorities | 13.6 | 17.6 | 7,291 | 98,802 |
| Florida: Ambulatory health care services | 51.4 | 4.6 | 521,568 | 64,552 |
| Georgia: Monetary authorities | 32.3 | 5.2 | 7,564 | 90,592 |
| Hawaii: Accommodation | 6.2 | 6.5 | 42,793 | 52,973 |
| Idaho: Farms | 3.6 | 4.3 | 19,608 | 37,642 |
| Illinois: Insurance | 45.7 | 5.2 | 139,611 | 99,628 |
| Indiana: Chemical manufacturing | 23.3 | 6.1 | 31,565 | 120,876 |
| Iowa: Insurance | 18.5 | 9.5 | 52,046 | 84,186 |
| Kansas: Rental and leasing services and lessors of nonfinancial intangible assets | 6.7 | 3.8 | 3,835 | 54,411 |
| Kentucky: Motor vehicles, bodies and trailers, and parts manufacturing | 9.3 | 4.3 | 61,431 | 66,973 |
| Louisiana: Petroleum and coal products manufacturing | 20.8 | 8.1 | 11,379 | 136,816 |
| Maine: Hospitals | 3.3 | 4.8 | 33,559 | 64,486 |
| Maryland: Ambulatory health care services | 15.8 | 3.7 | 150,609 | 66,638 |
| Massachusetts: Hospitals | 22.1 | 3.7 | 198,546 | 76,723 |
| Michigan: Motor vehicles, bodies and trailers, and parts manufacturing | 40.9 | 7.6 | 181,247 | 82,813 |
| Minnesota: Ambulatory health care services | 17.0 | 4.4 | 156,050 | 76,583 |
| Mississippi: Ambulatory health care services | 5.1 | 4.4 | 51,535 | 59,647 |
| Missouri: Ambulatory health care services | 12.3 | 3.7 | 120,333 | N/A |
| Montana: Hospitals | 2.5 | 4.7 | 25,583 | 65,511 |
| Nebraska: Insurance | 11.1 | 8.6 | 30,137 | 72,765 |
| Nevada: Accommodation | 17.1 | 9.6 | 189,499 | 41,794 |
| New Hampshire: Insurance | 4.3 | 4.9 | 13,599 | 92,107 |
| New Jersey: Ambulatory health care services | 27.2 | 4.3 | 244,625 | 64,942 |
| New Mexico: Oil and gas extraction | 7.5 | 7.2 | 4,372 | 117,205 |
| New York: Monetary authorities | 174.1 | 9.8 | 97,155 | 160,912 |
| North Carolina: Monetary authorities | 34.9 | 5.9 | 9,664 | 108,240 |
| North Dakota: Support activities for mining | 3.4 | 5.9 | 16,486 | 104,549 |
| Ohio: Monetary authorities | 32.1 | 4.6 | 32,140 | 72,365 |
| Oklahoma: Oil and gas extraction | 17.7 | 8.7 | 16,279 | 145,703 |
| Oregon: Computer and electronic product manufacturing | 16.1 | 6.3 | 38,576 | 136,636 |
| Pennsylvania: Broadcasting and telecommunications | 37.2 | 4.6 | 35,033 | 96,788 |
| Rhode Island: Insurance | 3.2 | 5.2 | 10,612 | 86,263 |
| South Carolina: Administrative and support and waste management and remediation services | 9.9 | 4.0 | 171,193 | 35,086 |
| South Dakota: Monetary authorities | 8.2 | 15.0 | 53,791 | 65,539 |
| Tennessee: Ambulatory health care services | 18.2 | 4.8 | 155,995 | 66,230 |
| Texas: Oil and gas extraction | 111.6 | 6.1 | 76,049 | 207,903 |
| Utah: Monetary authorities | 11.1 | 5.8 | 4,171 | 71,347 |
| Vermont: Ambulatory health care services | 1.6 | 4.8 | 17,271 | 60,521 |
| Virginia: Computer systems design and related services | 28.6 | 5.1 | N/A | 125,773 |
| Washington: Publishing industries | 54.0 | 8.8 | 74,919 | 246,039 |
| West Virginia: Mining | 4.3 | 5.4 | 14,258 | 87,510 |
| Wisconsin: Insurance | 18.9 | 5.4 | 71,709 | 78,377 |
| Wyoming: Mining | 3.7 | 9.2 | 7,835 | 95,068 |
by: Samuel Stebbins, 24/7 Wall St. via The Center Square
