Manufacturing GDP per Establishment by State

What the ranking measures

These manufacturing statistics provide a map of manufacturing GDP by state, manufacturing employment, manufacturing jobs, and the concentration of manufacturing activity. The top 10 list is especially useful for comparing the manufacturing sector across states. Unlike a simple number of manufacturing companies, establishment data counts operating locations. Readers looking for 2025 conditions can use this latest official benchmark while newer annual data moves through the federal release cycle.

Manufacturing GDP measures value added, not factory sales. BEA subtracts the value of intermediate inputs from gross output, so the measure captures the value created by labor and capital inside manufacturing. A refinery that buys crude oil and sells fuel does not count the entire selling price as value added. This distinction is laid out in the BEA GDP by industry methodology.

Gross domestic product by industry is one way to compare economic output without counting every purchased input twice. IndustrySelect and other commercial databases can help identify individual plants, but this report keeps the state comparison tied to public BEA and Census records.

An establishment is a single physical location where business is conducted or services are performed. One company can operate many establishments. A company headquarters and three factories may appear as separate establishments if they are separate locations. The Census CBP methodology also explains that the program covers employer businesses and generally excludes self-employed people, private households, railroads, agriculture production, and most government activity.

The ratio answers a narrow question: how much real manufacturing value added exists for each employer manufacturing location in a state? It does not report the revenue, profit, production volume, or floor space of the average individual plant. Because it divides aggregate totals, a handful of very large facilities can pull a state's figure upward.

Why Indiana and Louisiana lead

Indiana combines scale with a dense production base

Indiana's $119.4 billion in real manufacturing GDP is spread across 7,938 manufacturing establishments, producing the highest ratio in the table at $15.04 million per establishment. The state also records 524,995 manufacturing employees. Its calculated $227,435 of real GDP per worker is well above many traditional manufacturing states.

The result fits Indiana's industry mix. Transportation equipment, chemicals, primary metals, fabricated metals, and machinery include large plants and capital-heavy processes. A supplier assessing Indiana should not read the ranking as proof that every shop is large. It does suggest that the statewide customer base contains a substantial amount of production value relative to its count of locations.

Louisiana's capital-intensive mix changes the math

Louisiana ranks second with $45.3 billion in real manufacturing GDP and 3,044 establishments. Its $14.87 million per establishment sits only slightly behind Indiana, while calculated GDP per worker reaches $376,014, the highest value in this table.

Petroleum and chemical operations use expensive equipment, large process units, and relatively small workforces compared with their output. That structure can create very high aggregate value added per worker and per location. Sellers of pumps, valves, controls, inspection systems, maintenance services, and process safety products may find this metric more relevant than establishment count alone.

Large markets versus high-output locations

California has the largest manufacturing economy in the dataset at $347.5 billion in real GDP, but it ranks eleventh on GDP per establishment. Its 35,300 establishments include an unusually broad mix, from small food producers and machine shops to semiconductor, aerospace, and biopharmaceutical plants. Dividing that output across many locations yields $9.84 million per establishment.

Texas shows a different balance. Its $239.3 billion of real manufacturing GDP and 21,034 establishments produce $11.38 million per location, third among the states compared. Buyers targeting large industrial projects may prefer the Texas pattern. Firms selling broadly to smaller plants may still value California's much larger location count.

Ohio and Michigan are major manufacturing markets by nearly any measure. Ohio records $109.8 billion of real manufacturing GDP across 13,307 establishments, or $8.25 million per establishment. Michigan posts $99.2 billion across 12,192 establishments, or $8.14 million per establishment. Their middle-table placement does not make them weak markets. It reflects a large number of supplier, machining, fabrication, and production locations supporting their industrial ecosystems.

Pennsylvania offers another example of breadth. Its $88.5 billion in real manufacturing GDP is divided across 13,231 establishments, producing $6.69 million per establishment. The state remains a large addressable market even though its output-per-location rank is thirty-first.

How to use this data for market planning

Pair scale with establishment count

GDP per establishment is most useful when viewed beside the denominator. Delaware ranks twelfth at $9.48 million per establishment, but Census counts only 660 manufacturing locations. Illinois ranks eighteenth at $8.88 million per establishment and contains 12,465 locations. A territory manager may have more total prospects in Illinois even though the average output ratio is lower.

A practical account scoring model can use both columns. Establishment count estimates market breadth. GDP per establishment provides a rough signal of production intensity. Employment adds a third dimension, helping distinguish labor-heavy operations from capital-heavy processes. These measures cannot replace plant-level research, but they help decide where that research should start.

Match the metric to what you sell

High-value capital equipment vendors often need plants with large budgets, complex production assets, and enough throughput to justify automation. States near the top of this ranking may deserve extra weight. In contrast, distributors selling consumables or local services may prioritize total establishments, drive time, and industry mix.

Recruiters and training providers should look closely at employment. California's 1.16 million manufacturing workers create a much larger labor market than Louisiana's 120,360, even though Louisiana has a higher output ratio. Contract manufacturers should drill down to subsectors because aggregate state GDP may be driven by industries that do not purchase their capabilities.

Do not treat average output as plant revenue

Value added and sales are different accounting concepts. The ratio also blends bakeries, machine shops, steel mills, pharmaceutical plants, and aircraft factories. A quoted statewide average is not a reasonable revenue estimate for a prospect. Use it as a state comparison, then verify individual companies through filings, plant announcements, procurement records, and direct qualification.

Regional patterns in manufacturing output per plant

The geographic distribution shows how an industrial cluster, infrastructure, innovation, and subsector mix can shape the trend. This is not a time series, so the table should not be used to claim growth or decline. For labor-market comparisons beyond CBP employment, analysts can pair these results with BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages data.

Nine states exceed $10 million in real manufacturing GDP per establishment: Indiana, Louisiana, Texas, Kentucky, Iowa, Tennessee, Nebraska, North Carolina, and Alabama. Seven are in the South or lower Midwest. Their industry bases often combine automotive assembly, food processing, chemicals, metals, machinery, and other scaled production.

New England is mixed. Connecticut reaches $9.16 million per establishment and Massachusetts reaches $8.92 million, supported by aerospace, medical, electronics, and pharmaceutical activity. Vermont and Rhode Island sit much lower at $2.85 million and $3.87 million, respectively. Smaller establishments and a different subsector mix help explain the gap.

Wisconsin records $56.2 billion in real manufacturing GDP across 8,479 establishments, equal to $6.62 million per location. Its thirty-second-place ratio sits alongside a large, diverse factory base.

Western states also vary widely. California produces $9.84 million per establishment, Washington produces $8.46 million, and Arizona produces $8.90 million. Montana and Hawaii sit at the bottom with $2.18 million and $2.16 million. Geography, market size, natural resources, defense activity, technology manufacturing, and food processing all affect those industrial profiles.

Methodology and limitations

Calculation

For each state, we multiplied 2024 real manufacturing GDP in millions of chained 2017 dollars by one million and divided the result by 2023 NAICS 31-33 employer establishments. GDP per worker uses the same numerator divided by 2023 CBP employment. Rankings use unrounded values.

The GDP and establishment years differ because official datasets are released on different schedules. This is a cross-source indicator, not an official statistic published by BEA or Census. Wyoming is omitted because the source page used for the 2024 manufacturing GDP series did not provide a comparable value in the extracted dataset. Washington, DC is omitted because state manufacturing GDP was not included in the paired source series.

Real dollars and industry boundaries

Real GDP is adjusted for inflation and reported in chained 2017 dollars. Chained-dollar components are designed for changes and comparisons, but BEA warns that chained-dollar values are not additive in the same way as current dollars. Read the BEA methodology before combining this dataset with unrelated current-dollar measures.

Manufacturing is defined as NAICS sectors 31-33. Census describes these establishments as transforming materials, substances, or components into new products through mechanical, physical, or chemical processes. The boundary includes food, chemicals, fabricated metals, machinery, electronics, transportation equipment, and many other subsectors.

NAICS stands for the North American Industry Classification System. Its manufacturing definition centers on the transformation of materials into new products, which keeps the comparison consistent across every state.

Establishments are not companies

A multi-plant manufacturer contributes several establishments. A single establishment may employ a few people or thousands. CBP establishment totals also exclude nonemployer manufacturers, so home-based and owner-only businesses generally do not appear. Review the CBP methodology and dataset release page when reproducing the analysis.

Frequently asked questions

Which state has the highest manufacturing GDP per establishment?

Indiana ranks first at about $15.04 million in real manufacturing GDP per employer establishment, based on 2024 BEA GDP and 2023 Census CBP establishment data. Louisiana follows at about $14.87 million.

Is GDP per establishment the same as average factory revenue?

No. GDP measures value added, while revenue includes the value of purchased inputs. The ratio is based on statewide aggregates and should not be assigned to an individual factory.

Why does a state with fewer factories rank highly?

Capital-intensive industries can generate high value added from a limited number of large locations. Louisiana is a clear example, with $45.3 billion in real manufacturing GDP distributed across 3,044 establishments.

What is the national average manufacturing GDP per establishment?

The weighted average across the 49 states paired here is approximately $8.37 million in chained 2017 dollars. It is calculated from $2.376 trillion in real manufacturing GDP and 283,748 employer establishments.

Cite this resource

Suggested citation: Manufacturing Lead Generation. “Manufacturing GDP per Establishment by State 2026.” Updated September 4, 2026. https://manufacturingleadgeneration.com/manufacturing-gdp-per-establishment-by-state/

Sources

• U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Interactive Data, SAGDP real GDP by state and industry
• U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, GDP by State overview
• U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, GDP by Industry methodology
• U.S. Census Bureau, 2023 County Business Patterns state file
• U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns datasets
• U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns methodology
• U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 NAICS manufacturing definition