WalletHub released another study and this one puts Ohio near the bottom of the list of state economies.
In May, the website released studies putting Ohio near the top of student debt burden and Toledo as one of the nation’s most unhealthy cities.
This most recent study ranked Ohio has having the 42nd-best economy out of the 50 states plus Washington, D.C. WalletHub said it used 28 weighted metrics across three key areas – economic activity, economic health and innovation potential. Overall, Ohio ranked above neighboring Kentucky (46) and West Virginia (49) but just below nearby Indiana (38) and Illinois (39). Mississippi finished at the bottom while the state of Washington came out on top, a full nine points higher than second-place Utah on the 100-point scale. Ohio finished 44th in economic activity, 39th in economic health, and 33rd in innovation potential.
“The best state economies also encourage growth by being friendly to new businesses and investing in new technology that will help the state deal with future challenges and become more efficient,” said WalletHub analyst Cassandra Happe.
Why does Washington state top the list? According to WalletHub: “Washington has the best state economy in the country, and it has an extremely high amount of industry R&D investment per capita, which allows it to be at the forefront of new tech. In fact, Washington has the second-highest share of jobs in high-tech industries and the second-highest share of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math) professionals.”
In the Seattle area alone, 10 Fortune 500 companies (as of December 2021) are headquartered in Washington, including: Amazon, Costco, Microsoft, Starbucks, Paccar, Nordstrom, Weyerhaeuser, Expeditors International, Alaska Airlines, and Expedia.
Despite the gloomy study, local headlines have painted a rosier outlook with the expansion of the Wood Bridge Business Park and a county tax abatement that lured Amazon into adding 500 more jobs to the local economy. This on top of news last year about plans for a $750-million data center in the northern Wood County.
According to Wikipedia, Ohio’s economy would rank as the world’s 20th-largest, just behind Turkey and ahead of Switzerland.
