Borrowing from an approach that sometimes appears in the finance sections of the popular press, LSGL analysis is a handy and versatile way to compare, portray and classify the patterns of real retail trade earnings growth across all 51 states. In finance, this technique is used for comparing and assessing the market performance of individual securities or across industry sectors. For example, the performance of the 30 stocks contained within Dow are compared with one another over the past week in contrast to their performance over the past month using the Dow's respective averages as the points of reference.

Here in this United States Regional Economic Analysis Project report, we adopt this approach to gauge and compare the real retail trade earnings growth of all 51 states over the latest available year (2022) against the backdrop of their growth over the long term period (2010-2022). In so doing we classify their growth and performance into 4 broad categories: Leading, Slipping, Gaining and Lagging.

This figure displays the 51 states of the United States as dots on a scattergram, with the vertical axis representing the average annual real retail trade earnings growth rate over the long-term period (2010-2022), and the horizontal axis representing the real retail trade earnings growth rate for the near-term (2022).

This figure sets apart those states whose long-term real retail trade earnings growth exceeded the nationwide average of 3.97%, by portraying them in the top two quadrants demarcated at 3.97% on the vertical axis. State whose long-term average annual real retail trade earnings growth rate trailed the nationwide average (3.97%) are distributed in the bottom two quadrants. In all, 16 states surpassed the nationwide average over 2010-2022, while 35 states fell below.

Similarly, the two quadrants on the right of this figure present the positions of the 43 states whose most recent (2022) real retail trade earnings growth rate exceeded the nationwide average (3.04%). The two quadrants on the left feature those 8 states whose real retail trade earnings growth over 2022 trailed the nationwide average.

Accordingly, each quadrant portrays the performance of all 51 states corresponding with their long-term (2010-2022) and near-term (2022) performance relative to their respective nationwide averages of 3.97% over 2010-2022 and 3.04% over 2022:

Leading states () (top-right quadrant)...are states whose average annual real retail trade earnings growth rate surpassed the nationwide average both long-term (3.97%) and near-term (3.04%).

Slipping states () (top-left quadrant)...are states whose long-term average annual real retail trade earnings growth rate exceeded the nationwide average (3.97%), but whose near-term growth has "slipped" by falling below the the United States average (3.04%).

Gaining states () (bottom-right quadrant)...are states whose long-term average annual real retail trade earnings growth rate fell below the nationwide average (3.97%), but whose near-term growth has "gained" by registering above the average (3.04%) nationwide.

Lagging states () (bottom-left quadrant)...are states whose average annual real retail trade earnings growth rate fell under the nationwide average both long-term (3.97%) and near-term (3.04%).

Turning attention to the top-right quadrant from the discussion above, this figure features the distribution of the United States states classified as Leading. These states surpassed the United States' average annual real retail trade earnings growth both long-term (2010-2022 = 3.97%) as well as near-term (2022 = 3.04%). Each is identified by its corresponding ranking based on it's average annual real retail trade earnings growth rate over 2010-2022.

Of the United States' 51 states, 13 (25%) are classified within the Leading () category. Those states ranked by their long-term average include:

This figure depicts the distribution of the 3 United States states classified as Slipping (top-left quadrant), in that their long-term average annual real retail trade earnings growth rate outpaced the average nationwide (2010-2022 = 3.97%), while they trailed the nationwide average near-term (2022 = 3.04%). Again, each state is identified by it's corresponding ranking based on its average annual real retail trade earnings growth rate over 2010-2022.

Only 3 (6%) of the United States' 51 states are classified as Slipping (). Those states ranked by their long-term average include:

This figure shows the distribution of the 30 United States states classified as Gaining (bottom-right quadrant), in that their long-term average annual real retail trade earnings growth rate posted below the average nationwide (2010-2022 = 3.97%), while they outpaced the United States' average near-term (2022 = 3.04%). Again, each state is identified by its corresponding ranking based on its average annual real retail trade earnings growth rate over 2010-2022.

Of the United States' 51 states, 59% (30) are featured as Gaining (). Those states ranked by their long-term average include:

This figure depicts the distributions of the 5 United States states classified as Lagging (bottom-left quadrant). These states trailed the nationwide average annual real retail trade earnings growth both long-term (2010-2022 = 3.97%) as well as near-term (2022 = 3.04%). Again, each state is identified by its corresponding ranking based on it's average annual real retail trade earnings growth rate over 2010-2022.

10% of the United States' states, 5 of 51, are characterized here as Lagging (). Those states ranked by their long-term average include: