Best 5 Economies In US 2017: Washington, California And Utah Among High Performing Economies, Study Says

The U.S. economy is the largest in the world at $18 trillion and it represents a quarter share of the global economy, according to the latest World Bank figures. The U.S. economic growth depends largely on the performance of its individual states, some of which contribute more compared to others.

For instance, last year, California was ranked the sixth largest economy in the world. It had a GDP in size to that of the U.K., even larger than France and India.

According to a new study by WalletHub - a personal finance website based out of Washington, D.C., - the top five economies in the U.S. are Washington, California, Utah, Massachusetts and District of Columbia.

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Although the study portrays Washington's economy as strong, there are large sections of the state that aren't faring so well, according to state data. Seven counties in the state have unemployment rates in excess of seven percent.

The WalletHub study was based on comparisons among the 50 states and the District of Columbia across three key dimensions: Economic Activity, Economic Health, and Innovation Potential. The least performing economies were Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, and West Virginia.

“States with high-performing economies typically have very low unemployment rates, higher annual household incomes and a smaller population living beneath the poverty line,” according to a report last year that cited Jill Gonzalez, an analyst at WalletHub. “Most of those can be seen and felt throughout a state via nice, safe neighborhoods and schools or simply less homeless persons out on the street. Your state’s economy snowballs into your everyday way of life,” Gonzalez said.

The study revealed Colorado had the lowest unemployment rate of 2.6 percent, 2.6 times lower than New Mexico, the state with the highest unemployment rate at 6.7 percent.

In an interview with CNBC, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper said his booming economy is the result of the government's efforts to make the state more pro-business. He added that Colorado has "one of the lowest business income tax levels at just a little over 4.6 percent," adding, "We worked very hard to reduce red tape, to try to attract young entrepreneurs."

New Hampshire has the lowest share of the population living below poverty level, 8.9 percent, which is 2.5 times lower than in Mississippi, the state with the highest at 22.5 percent.

When it comes to the highest share of jobs in high-tech industries, Massachusetts tops the chart with 7.91 percent, which is 3.4 times higher than in Wyoming, the state with the lowest at 2.33 percent. “It’s generally consistent with what we’ve been seeing,” the Boston Globe reported citing Tom Hopcroft, head of the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council, which conducted its own research on the industry’s size and scope in the state. “Creating jobs isn’t the hard part for the tech sector right now. It’s filling them,” Hopcroft was quoted in the report.

According to CompTIA, a non-profit trade association that issues professional certifications for the IT industry, the research and development category of Massachusetts' tech industry also contributes to the state's growing technology sector, the Boston Globe reported.