(Photo by Flickr user Images Money via Creative Commons license)

(Photo by Flickr user Images Money via Creative Commons license)

The United States had a $17.3 trillion economy in 2014 — that’s about $7 trillion ahead of China — which makes it the wealthiest nation in the world by far.

Where’s all that wealth coming from? HowMuch.net found that the states with the largest economies are California (13.3 percent), Texas (9.5 percent), and New York (8.1 percent). The states with the smallest economies are Vermont (0.2 percent), Maine, Rhode Island, North and South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, and Alaska, all of which represent about 0.3 percent of the U.S. economy.

Fueled by mining and manufacturing, the size of Texas’ economy increased by almost $300 billion, more than any other state. The state’s economy grew from 8.8 percent of the total U.S. economy in 2011 to 9.5 percent in 2014.

California grew by just under $300 billion, but its share of the total U.S. economy rose by only 0.1 percent.

Most economic activity in the U.S. is concentrated in three regions: Far West (18.6 percent), Southeast (21.3 percent), and Mideast (18.2 percent). Howmuch.net found this unsurprising since these regions contain major U.S. States and cover the U.S. coastline, where most large cities are located.

The chart below shows how much each state contributes to the U.S. economy.

US-Economy-by-State-Flag-be95-2