7 U.S. States Have Shrinking Economies While The Rest Of The Country Booms

The most recent numbers from the Philadelphia Fed’s state coincident indexes show that the majority of U.S. states have experienced economic growth in the past three months. The coincident indexes account for economic measures such as gross domestic product, jobs, manufacturing hours worked, unemployment rate and real wages.

According to the newest numbers, only seven state economies are shrinking, while the majority of state economies are booming. The seven states left out may come as no surprise, as each of them has significant exposure to the struggling oil and gas industry.

The seven states experiencing economic contraction are North Dakota Wyoming, Louisiana, Alaska, Iowa, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania.

Surprisingly, the nation’s largest oil producer, Texas, has found a way to maintain moderate economic growth over the past quarter.

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The expanding housing market has provided a big boost for some of the fastest-growing state economies in the country. The two states hit hardest by the bursting of the housing bubble, Nevada and Florida, are among the top state economies so far in 2016.

Florida and Nevada are two of only four states to witness 9.0 percent-plus year-over-year gains in housing prices in Q1. Oregon and Washington are the two other housing top performers.