Congratulations, Garden Staters!

I found another online jewel in the tiara of the Somerset County Library: It’s called “Facts on File, the World Atlas.” Sounds boring, doesn’t it? But I like digging, so I started browsing, pulled up some numbers about New Jersey and a few other states, entered the data into an Excel spreadsheet, plugged in a formula, and here’s what came out:

Do you know that despite all of the lackluster governance at the state level; despite the highest real estate taxes in the nation; despite being at the center of one of this nation’s worst economic debacles; that we in New Jersey are – by one hard, irrefutable measure – one of America’s best economic producers?

That’s right, we are. According to figures from the U.S. Census bureau, New Jersey tops California, Texas and Florida when measured by Gross State Product per Capita, a prime economic indicator. Yup, we beat out three huge states which are much bigger than we are in population, land mass and, you would think, greater in economic power.

On a head-to-head comparison of economic output by citizen, we outdid all three. Per Capita GSP for New Jersey is $49.4 million per person, $4.92 M more than California; $7.61 M more than Texas; and $12.14 M more than Florida. Not bad for New Jersey where it seems at times that government is doing its best to de-incentivize so many of its citizens and businesses.

Those results prove that it’s hard to keep down a team of self-motivated citizens and businesses! Give yourselves a sound pat on the back, New Jerseyans. The facts corroborate it, and you deserve it.

Note: According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, “GSP is the state counterpart of the Nation’s gross domestic product (GDP), the Bureau’s featured and most comprehensive measure of U.S. economic activity.”