As many of you know, Wyoming’s real GDP growth from January 1, 2019 through December 31, 2024, was the LOWEST of any state in the country. (Note: final ’state’ based data for 2025 has not yet been published by the United States Bureau of Economic Analysis)
To ensure we are comparing apples to apples, these numbers intentionally exclude the impact of inflation.
For those wondering, including inflation will make Wyoming look worse because Wyoming’s inflation during this period was 30%, while the United States average was 23%.
Wyoming’s economy grew 0.8% per year.
The United States grew 2.6% per year.
The United States grew more than 3x faster than Wyoming from 2019 to 2024.
Under the ‘blue’ conservative leadership of Governor Mark Gordon, Wyoming continues to fall behind.
More taxes, higher state and local government spending, less growth, higher inflation, and lower wages.
When you look at Wyoming’s 23 counties under ‘blue’ conservative leadership,
– Laramie County grew 16.1% ($5.7 billion GDP in on 12/31/2018 to $6.6 billion GDP on 12/31/2024)
– GDP growth of the other 22 combined Wyoming Counties grew just 2.8% ($32.3 billion to $33.2 billion)
Laramie County = 16.1% GDP growth
22 other Wyoming Counties = 2.8% GDP growth
Laramie County’s economy grew 5.75 TIMES FASTER than Wyoming’s other 22 counties.
Laramie County grew at a rate of 3% per year.
The rest of Wyoming grew at 0.6% per year.
Industry economists will tell you that a healthy economy needs to grow at 2.5% PER YEAR or more.
‘The rest of Wyoming’ is growing at 0.6% per year. Far below a 2.5% target.
Last time I drove through Cheyenne, I noticed some of the new homes looked a bit nicer than in other parts of Wyoming…
When you look at the finer detail:
– Wyoming’s economy grew just $1.8 billion from the end of 2018 to the end of 2024 ($38.0b ==> $39.8b)
– Of that $1.8 billion increase in GDP, $922 million in growth came from Laramie County and $917 million in growth came from the other 22 counties…Laramie County’s growth in dollars was HIGHER than the rest of the state combined.
Now we know why the government is the largest industry and largest employer in Wyoming…
Remember:
– Wyoming real GDP – lowest growth of any state
– 46% of Wyoming lives in a county with a declining GDP
– Wyoming real inflation – 7% higher than the United States (30% vs. 23%)
– Wyoming wages – 8% below the United States median
– Wyoming wages – only grew a total of 8% since 2010 vs. the United States average of 22%
– Mining industry GDP went down 16.8% since the end of 2018
– Wyoming Windmills increased 96% since the end of 2018
– Wyoming state government revenue grew 64% from FY19 to FY25
– Wyoming state expenditures grew 60% from FY19 to FY25
– Wyoming state cash reserves grew 50% from FY19 to FY25
How many Wyoming families saw their household income increase 64% from FY19 to FY25?
How many Wyoming families saw their personal savings accounts increase 50% from FY19 to FY25?
Yours kindly,
B Alfred Marshall
Source data: BEA Interactive Data Application