County Gross Domestic Product and Personal Income, 2024

By Ledia Guci, Gabriel Medeiros, Ralph Rodriguez, and Nicholas Wetzler | July 22, 2026

On February 5, 2026, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released new gross domestic product (GDP) and personal income statistics for all U.S. counties for 2024. These statistics complement the state statistics published in September 2025 and provide a deeper view of the local economies that drive state economic growth.

The following charts highlight 2024 GDP and personal income statistics and illustrate how county-level activity contributes to state-level performance, focusing on counties within the fastest-growing states in 2024: Washington for real GDP and North Carolina for personal income. A more detailed analysis on 2024 state-level performance is available in the article “Results of the 2025 Annual Update of the Regional Economic Accounts,” published in the Survey of Current Business in January 2026. A full set of county statistics is available on BEA's GDP by county webpage.

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Nationally, real GDP grew 2.8 percent in 2024. Real GDP increased in every state and the District of Columbia except Wyoming.
Washington was the fastest-growing state, with real GDP up 4.7 percent.
County data show growth varied widely within each state.

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In Washington, 36 of 39 counties experienced growth in real GDP, and 16 grew faster than the state overall.
Lincoln and Adams counties were the fastest growing, with real GDP growth of 23.9 percent and 23.7 percent, respectively—more than double the growth rate of the next fastest-growing county.
In King County—the state's most populous county and the economic center that includes Seattle—real GDP increased 5.8 percent.

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Different industries drove growth across counties. Information led production in King County, a global hub for the information industry and home to technology giants Microsoft and Amazon.
Manufacturing led production in Snohomish County, home to Boeing's Everett Facility, an aircraft production facility and the world's largest building by volume.
Finance, insurance, and real estate led production in Pierce County, which includes the city of Tacoma and is the state's second-most populous county.

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In Washington, production is largely concentrated in King County. King County accounted for 55.7 percent of the state share of total current-dollar GDP and contributed more than half of the state's increase in GDP.
In King County, information value added alone exceeded the combined total value added of the next two largest counties, Pierce and Snohomish counties.
Together, Pierce and Snohomish counties accounted for nearly 15 percent of the total state share of current-dollar GDP.

Among detailed industries, retail trade and information were the largest contributors to real GDP growth in Washington, adding 1.72 and 1.44 percentage points, respectively.
In King County, information contributed 2.59 percentage points to real GDP growth, while retail trade added 2.37 percentage points. In addition to the information-industry leaders Microsoft and Amazon, King County is also home to major retailers Nordstrom, Costco, and Starbucks.
In Pierce County, real estate and rental and leasing was the largest contributor to the increase in real GDP after retail trade.
In Snohomish County, durable-goods manufacturing was the largest contributor to real GDP growth after retail trade, adding 0.41 percentage point, while professional, scientific, and technical services subtracted 0.78 percentage point from growth.

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Nationally, personal income grew 5.6 percent in 2024. Personal income increased in every state and the District of Columbia.
North Carolina was the fastest-growing state, with personal income up 7.1 percent.
Growth in personal income varied across counties according to county-level data.

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In North Carolina, personal income increased in all 100 counties, with 36 counties outpacing the overall state growth.
The two fastest-growing counties were Anson and Franklin, where personal income growth exceeded 9 percent.
Personal income in Wake and Mecklenburg counties—the state's two largest counties and home to Raleigh and Charlotte—grew 7.6 and 7.1 percent, respectively.

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Wake and Mecklenburg counties were the two largest counties by share of state personal income, jointly accounting for nearly 29.0 percent of total personal income in North Carolina.
Earnings was the largest component of personal income in both counties.
The next six-largest counties—Guilford, Forsyth, Durham, Union, Buncombe, and Cumberland—accounted for an additional 19.6 percent.
The remaining 92 counties together accounted for the other 51.5 percent of total state personal income.

At the state level, personal current transfer receipts increased the most among the components of personal income.
Personal current transfer receipts in Mecklenburg and Wake counties increased 12.9 and 11.7 percent, respectively, driven largely by an increase in Medicare and Medicaid payments and Social Security benefits.
Earnings in Wake and Mecklenburg counties increased 6.6 and 6.0 percent, respectively.

State and local government, along with health care and social assistance, were the largest contributors to the increase in earnings in North Carolina, adding 0.82 and 0.79 percentage point, respectively.
In Wake County, professional, scientific, and technical services and health care and social assistance were the largest contributors to earnings growth, adding 1.13 and 1.12 percentage points, respectively. Wake is a core county within the Research Triangle—the tri-city area of Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill, home to three major research universities.
In Mecklenburg County, finance and insurance was the largest contributor to earnings growth, adding 1.70 percentage points. Charlotte, the county seat, is a national banking hub and home to Bank of America and Truist Financial.