With a June jobless rate of 5.6 percent and a five-year annualized employment growth rate of 2.0 percent, the Idaho economy finished second best in a new ranking by the website 24/7 Wall St. Neighboring Washington was ranked third.
Idaho’s annualized gross domestic product growth through the first quarter of this year stood at 2.8 percent, the financial news website reported, while its poverty rate came in at 11.8 percent. Unlike the U.S. as a whole, where employment fell by 2.7% from June 2015 to June 2020, Idaho has added jobs in the last five years, with overall employment climbing 10.5%, says the website.
In ranking the health of state economies during the COVID-19 pandemic, 24/7 Wall St. looked at four metrics: the five-year GDP growth, employment statistics, the jobless rate and the poverty rate. The data originate from the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics and Bureau of Economic Analysis.
The states that took the biggest hits economically were dependent on industries most affected by the pandemic, such as tourism and extraction of petroleum, according to 24/7 Wall St.
State Economy Rankings During COVID-19 Era
| Rank | State | 5-year Annualized GDP Growth Rate Through Q1 2020 | 5-year Annualized Employment Growth Rate Through June 2020 | June 2020 Jobless Rate | Poverty Rate |
| 1 | Utah | 3.4% | 2.4% | 5.1% | 9.0% |
| 2 | Idaho | 2.8% | 2.0% | 5.6% | 11.8% |
| 3 | Washington | 3.9% | 1.3% | 9.8% | 10.3% |
| 4 | Colorado | 2.9% | 0.9% | 10.5% | 9.6% |
| 5 | Maryland | 1.6% | -0.3% | 8.0% | 9.0% |
| 6 | Arizona | 3.0% | 1.2% | 10.0% | 14.0% |
| 7 | Nebraska | 1.2% | 0.2% | 6.7% | 11.0% |
| 8 | Oregon | 3.2% | 0.5% | 11.2% | 12.6% |
| 9 | Minnesota | 1.5% | -0.3% | 8.6% | 9.6% |
| 10 | Georgia | 2.5% | 0.3% | 7.6% | 14.3% |
| 11 | Maine | 1.7% | -0.9% | 6.6% | 11.6% |
| 12 | Virginia | 1.5% | -0.4% | 8.4% | 10.7% |
| 13 | South Carolina | 2.6% | 0.8% | 8.7% | 15.3% |
| 14 | Kansas | 1.6% | -0.8% | 7.5% | 12.0% |
| 15 | Texas | 2.4% | 0.2% | 8.6% | 14.9% |
| 16 | New Hampshire | 2.0% | -1.8% | 11.8% | 7.6% |
| 17 | Montana | 0.9% | 0.1% | 7.1% | 13.0% |
| 18 | South Dakota | 1.0% | -0.1% | 7.2% | 13.1% |
| 19 | Florida | 2.8% | -0.7% | 10.4% | 13.6% |
| 20 | North Carolina | 1.6% | -0.3% | 7.6% | 14.0% |
| 21 | Wisconsin | 1.2% | -1.0% | 8.5% | 11.0% |
| 22 | Kentucky | 0.9% | -0.4% | 4.3% | 16.9% |
| 23 | Vermont | 1.1% | -1.4% | 9.4% | 11.0% |
| 24 | Tennessee | 2.0% | -0.1% | 9.7% | 15.3% |
| 25 | Missouri | 0.9% | -1.0% | 7.9% | 13.2% |
| 26 | Alabama | 1.5% | 0.0% | 7.5% | 16.8% |
| 27 | Iowa | 0.5% | -1.6% | 8.0% | 11.2% |
| 28 | Connecticut | 0.4% | -1.1% | 9.8% | 10.4% |
| 29 | Nevada | 2.8% | -0.6% | 15.0% | 12.9% |
| 30 | North Dakota | -1.2% | -1.4% | 6.1% | 10.7% |
| 31 | Wyoming | -0.6% | -1.2% | 7.6% | 11.1% |
| 32 | Indiana | 1.1% | -0.6% | 11.2% | 13.1% |
| 33 | California | 3.0% | -1.8% | 14.9% | 12.8% |
| 34 | Oklahoma | 0.4% | -1.2% | 6.6% | 15.6% |
| 35 | Ohio | 1.1% | -1.0% | 10.9% | 13.9% |
| 36 | Arkansas | 1.1% | -0.9% | 8.0% | 17.2% |
| 37 | Pennsylvania | 1.3% | -1.9% | 13.0% | 12.2% |
| 38 | New Mexico | 1.3% | -0.7% | 8.3% | 19.5% |
| 39 | Massachusetts | 2.0% | -2.3% | 17.4% | 10.0% |
| 40 | Hawaii | 1.5% | -4.1% | 13.9% | 8.8% |
| 41 | Rhode Island | 0.7% | -1.6% | 12.4% | 12.9% |
| 42 | New Jersey | 0.9% | -2.2% | 16.6% | 9.5% |
| 43 | Michigan | 1.4% | -1.3% | 14.8% | 14.1% |
| 44 | Alaska | 0.0% | -2.4% | 12.4% | 10.9% |
| 45 | Illinois | 1.0% | -2.0% | 14.6% | 12.1% |
| 46 | Delaware | -1.0% | -0.7% | 12.5% | 12.5% |
| 47 | West Virginia | 0.4% | -1.2% | 10.4% | 17.8% |
| 48 | Mississippi | 0.8% | -1.7% | 8.7% | 19.7% |
| 49 | New York | 1.0% | -2.7% | 15.7% | 13.6% |
| 50 | Louisiana | 0.2% | -2.3% | 9.7% | 18.7% |
Source: 24/7 Wall St.