Report Highlights States With The Best And Worst Economic Outlook For 2025

A Tuesday report from the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a conservative nonprofit, highlighted the states with the best and worst economic prospects for 2025.

The 18th edition of ALEC’s “Rich States, Poor States,” an annual report which examines all 50 state’s economic outlook “based on a state’s current standing in 15 state policy variables,” ranked Utah in first place for the 18th year in a row, followed by Tennessee, Indiana, North Carolina and North Dakota. Meanwhile, New York ranked in last place in the “Economic Outlook Ranking.”

New York is notably one of the states with the highest income taxes, which ranges from 4% to 10.9%, according to data from the Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan think tank. Meanwhile, Utah has a flat 4.55% individual income tax rate.

Notably, several of the states that notched high marks on ALEC’s economic scorecard voted for President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election by large margins. Trump swept Utah in the November presidential election, securing 59.4% of the vote to former Vice President Kamala Harris’ 37.8%.

Meanwhile, Harris won New York in the 2024 presidential election, notching 56.3% of the vote to Trump’s 43.7%.

Moreover, the report found that states that spend less — especially on income transfer programs — as well as states that tax less — particularly on activities such as working or investing — generally experience higher growth rates than states that tax and spend more.