Artsiest U.S. State Economies Led by D.C., Washington, New York

(Bloomberg) -- The District of Columbia, along with the states of Washington and New York, may have the artsiest economies in the U.S.

That’s according to the Commerce Department’s first release of data on how much arts and culture contribute to the economies of all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The report on Tuesday showed that arts and cultural activities accounted for 8.4 percent of the capital’s economic value-added in 2015, followed by 7.9 percent for Washington state and 7.8 percent for New York state.

Total arts and cultural activity contributed $764 billion to the U.S. economy in 2015, accounting for 4.2 percent of gross domestic product. The data include a range of industries from performing arts, to broadcasting, to arts-related construction.

Government activities helped land D.C. in the top spot, contributing $4.4 billion, or 43 percent, of the district’s entire arts and culture output. New York may be known for the theater business, but motion pictures -- which includes film and video production -- were the biggest arts contributor to the state’s economy at almost 2 percent of GDP. The share was similar for California, home to Hollywood. In

Meanwhile, the top arts industries for No. 2 Washington state included publishing and retail. Since publishing includes software, the data point to the presence of Microsoft Corp. and Amazon.com Inc., both based in the state.

“You can imagine there are certain companies involved in information sciences and they’re in that state,” said Paul Kern, branch chief for industry economic accounts for the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis.

To contact the reporter on this story: Shelly Hagan in Washington at shagan9@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Murray at brmurray@bloomberg.net, Scott Lanman, Alister Bull

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