PELICAN INSTITUTE: Summer 2026 Economic Report

Why this report matters

Louisiana’s comeback is real. Finishing it is the harder part.

The numbers in our Summer 2026 Louisiana Economic Report all point the same direction — and they point there for a reason.

Louisiana’s economy grew faster than the nation and faster than every neighboring state last quarter. Personal income growth led the region. Employers added roughly 16,700 jobs over the year. And for the second year running, more people call Louisiana home.

None of that happened by accident. It follows a run of deliberate policy choices: education freedom through LA GATOR, tax reform that flattened the income tax brackets and ended the corporate franchise tax, One Door to Work, changes to occupational licensing, the REINS Act, and legal reforms aimed at the nation’s highest auto insurance rates.

But the same report shows the work that remains. Louisiana still ranks 44th in net interstate migration, having lost more than 110,000 residents and $3.6 billion in income between 2018 and 2023. The state remains about 39,700 residents below its 2020 base. Unemployment sits just above the national rate.

Writing in The Advocate, Pelican Institute CEO Daniel Erspamer argued that too many reforms stopped short of their promise: LA GATOR funding stalled despite tens of thousands of families qualifying, no permanent path to phasing out the income tax, no limit on government growth, and a legal climate that still deters investment.

Louisiana has momentum for the first time in decades.Daniel J. Erspamer, CEO, Pelican Institute for Public Policy

Momentum is not permanence. The data below shows what reform has already delivered — and where Louisiana still has ground to make up.