Compare two to five states. See the actual gap, the source year, and whether a survey can distinguish the estimates.
Choose your states
Choose at least two different states.
Choose the measures to compare
Reading the comparison
Every rank uses all 50 states, with rank 1 meaning the highest estimate. Changing the states in this tool does not change those ranks. “U.S.” is the national observation from the same source and year, rather than an unweighted state average.
For ACS measures, the table includes the published 90% margin of error. Expand a measure’s pairwise results to see all selected state pairs. A difference is flagged when |A − B| > √(MOEA² + MOEB²). These are separate 90% tests with no adjustment for multiple comparisons; they do not establish an overall ordering. Population estimates do not have survey margins of error in this file.
Dates can differ across measures but never between states within one measure. The comparison URL records state and measure choices. Shared comparisons are excluded from indexing. Read the methodology