Southern California’s $1.6 trillion economy bigger than 18 states combined

quote:

---

I often forget the sheer size of the Southern California economy.

My trusty spreadsheet — filled with the federal government’s annual accounting of gross domestic product by county — says the six-county region produced $1.57 trillion worth of goods in services in 2022.

Now 13-digit numbers are hard to fathom. So let’s add some perspective to this broad measure of business production, adjusted for inflation:

It represents 7% of the nation’s total business.

Only two states have bigger economies – Texas and New York.

Southern California’s output exceeds the business output of 18 states combined.

---

quote:

---

These six Southern California counties all rank in the top 77 for GDP produced among the 3,113 US counties tallied.

Consider what’s going on locally by county, ranked by GDP …

Los Angeles: Its $790 billion GDP is No. 1 among US counties, just ahead of New York (Manhattan) and Cook (Chicago). Compared with states, LA output approximates Pennsylvania’s economy. LA’s GDP grew 2.1% for the year, but is up only 3% since 2019.

Orange: $270 billion, No. 9 in the US, and on par with Connecticut. Up 0.9% for the year and up 4.8% since 2019.

San Diego: $257 billion, No. 10 in the US, and on par with Oregon. Up 2.9% for the year and up 8.9% since 2019.
Note that Orange and San Diego ranked between the counties of San Francisco and Maricopa (Phoenix).

San Bernardino: $101 billion, No. 39 in the US – ranked between Wayne County (Detroit) and Allegheny County (Pittsburgh). It’s on par with New Mexico. GDP was up 1.3% for the year and up 7% since 2019.

Riverside: $95 billion, No. 45 in the US – ranked between Wake County (that’s Raleigh, North Carolina) and Denver County in Colorado. It’s on par with Idaho. GDP was up 0.8% for the year and up 5.1% since 2019.

Ventura: $53 billion, No. 77 in the US – ranked between New Haven County (Connecticut) and the Atlanta suburb of Gwinnett County. It’s on par with Montana. GDP was off 0.4% for the year and up 2% since 2019.

---