Skip to content

Raw data: Economic growth in California

Just sayin'.

In case you're curious, real GDP per capita for the US increased at an annual rate of 0.84% during Donald Trump's four years in office. It has increased in California at an annual rate of 2.8% during the five years Gavin Newsom has been governor.

18 thoughts on “Raw data: Economic growth in California

    1. Anandakos

      Technically a good point. So call it "Gross Polity Product" to make it generic and applicable to any level of the Russian doll of overlapping responsibilities in a Federal system.

      It's a valid comparison.

    2. Jasper_in_Boston

      Why not? Seems to me if you want to see how an individual state is doing, it’s a data point you have no choice but to look at.

    3. Batchman

      It also doesn't make a ton of sense to call California "the world's fifth largest economy" when it's not a country. But everyone insists on doing it.

  1. bbleh

    But, but Kevin, there are a LOT of ... BROWN people there! Different KINDS of them! And, uh ... LIBRUL schools! And ... hippies! Or whatever they're called now. And ... Nancy Pelosi!!! They're ERODING OUR MORAL FIBER and POISONING THE BLOOD OF OUR NATION!!11!! Is it any WONDER Kamablack Harrisblack comes from California?!? I ask you!

    1. MrPug

      Both companies generate a lot of overseas revenue and I'm pretty sure that all gets counted as US GDP. Why would a state be different?

    2. Jasper_in_Boston

      Do all of say Apple’s or Alphabet’s revenue get counted as California?

      No. The value added by these firms in California counts as California output. An engineer working at an Apple or Google research lab in London will be contributing to the UK's GDP, not California's.

  2. name99

    Is there some sort of "Real (at PPP) per Capita" metric?

    Yes the CA GDP is higher. But once you adjust for taxes and costs (obviously housing, but also gasoline, many labor related costs, and I suspect electricity and water) how much ahead are you, ie at PPP?

    I honestly don't know the answer to this, but we do know that California is #1 for states people are leaving, so there's at least some fraction of people who aren't convinced that this excess GDP is, for their circumstances, translating into a superior life.

    1. Anandakos

      And, it therefore must be somewhere in the top X for "people who are arriving", because its population isn't plummetting. A whole lot more people want to live in a Mediterranean climate paradise than in the humid sweatbowl that is Texas east of I-35 or in the arid wasteland to the west. Well, yes, the Hill Country is really nice, especially in Spring.

      The rest of the place is just a paean to individualistic selfishness, and Californians are very happy to be rid of narcissists like Elon Musky. I'm sure they wish his fascist nutter partner in Pay Pal would leave too. But Thiel is smart enough to know that Dudes With Light Loafers are not really welcome in Tejas.

      1. rick_jones

        It isn’t clear California will remain a Mediterranean paradise as the climate changes. Especially if we lose much precipitation.

      2. name99

        If you're going to argue, at least get the FACTS straight.
        We can argue about fractions, sure, but in terms of net numbers
        - CA (and NY) are losing the most people
        - FL and TX are gaining them.

        If you refuse to even concede reality, we have nothing to discuss.
        https://www.nar.realtor/blogs/economists-outlook/state-to-state-migration-trends-in-2022
        Scroll down to the Domestic Net Migration, 2022 map, and the subsequent discussion of "Why" is also pretty interesting.

        I note also, that you were eager to jump onto some sort of (fairly pathetic) refutation of my post without actually ANSWERING THE FSCKING PPP QUESTION...

    2. lawnorder

      California has the largest population of any state. Given that, it would be a reasonable expectation that it would be number one or close to it in both departures and arrivals.

    3. tigersharktoo

      "but we do know that California is #1 for states people are leaving,"z

      If so, would not the price of housing be declining? And traffic on the 405 getting easier? And wouldn't the price of gas be going done.

      Capitalism and supply/demand.

Comments are closed.