The Richest Countries in North America 2025

Using the latest 2025 IMF estimates, North America reveals a fascinating split-screen when it comes to GDP per capita (PPP): towering continental economies on one side, and nimble Caribbean and Central American states on the other, each prospering in very different ways.

At the top sits the United States, whose huge, innovation-driven marketplace still translates into the region’s highest living-standard figure, about $89,100 per person. Canada follows, leveraging abundant natural resources, advanced services, and a technology sector that punches above its population weight, to notch roughly $65,700. Yet the surprise storyline lies farther south. Panama’s role as the Western Hemisphere’s shipping toll-booth and financial conduit lifts it to third place, while tourism-centric island nations such as The Bahamas and Trinidad & Tobago parlay strategic geography, offshore banking, and energy exports into per-capita incomes that rival parts of Western Europe.

In 2025, the richest countries in North America are the United States, Canada, and Panama, with GDP/Capita (PPP) of $89,105, $65,707, and $43,840, respectively. The ten leaders profiled below illustrate how a mix of geography, policy choices, and sectoral specialization can propel economies, large or small, to the very top of the regional wealth table in 2025.

10 Richest Countries In North America

Jump to the list of all North American countries ranked by GDP/Capita (PPP)

1. United States - $89,105 GDP/Capita (PPP)

The United States tops North America’s 2025 wealth league with an IMF-projected GDP per capita (PPP) of about $89,000. Its prosperity rests on a diversified, high-productivity mixed economy that blends cutting-edge technology, finance, and creative industries with vast energy and agricultural assets. The U.S. accounts for a quarter of global nominal output; its dollar underpins international reserves and trade, reinforcing access to capital.

Competitive advantages include world-class universities, a dynamic venture-capital ecosystem, and the globe’s largest consumer market, which fuels 68% of GDP. Robust transport and logistics networks support the region’s leading export platform, while large domestic oil and gas production keep energy costs low. However, the country pairs exceptional average incomes with one of the developed world’s widest inequality gaps and a rising public-debt burden. Even so, steady growth, flexible labor markets, and continual innovation keep the United States firmly at the pinnacle of North American living standards.

2. Canada - $65,707 GDP/Capita (PPP)

Canada secures the No. 2 spot in North America’s 2025 wealth rankings with an IMF-estimated GDP per capita (PPP) of $65,707. A highly diversified, export-oriented mixed economy, the ninth-largest worldwide by nominal output, Canada marries abundant natural resources with world-class services. Oil sands, hydro power, and critical minerals make it a rare net energy exporter, while the Prairies feed global grain markets and Ontario-Québec anchor a sophisticated auto, aerospace, and technology corridor.

Trade remains the growth engine: merchandise and services flows exceeded $2 trillion USD in 2024, with the United States absorbing three-quarters of exports, and 15 free-trade pacts opening 50 other markets. Low corruption, strong institutions, cooperative banking, and an efficient social-security net underpin stability; Toronto’s stock exchange, the world’s tenth-largest, channels investment. Despite housing-affordability strains and middling productivity, steady immigration, competitive innovation clusters, and responsible fiscal management keep Canada firmly positioned among the continent’s high-income leaders, heading into the latter half of the decade.

3. Panama - $43,840 GDP/Capita (PPP)

Panama claims North America’s third-highest living standard slot for 2025. The isthmus leverages geography and full dollarization to run a service-heavy, outward-looking economy: finance, insurance, medical tourism, and the world-class Colón Free Trade Zone collectively generate roughly 80% of output, while the expanded Panama Canal and five container mega-ports anchor a regional logistics hub that connects Atlantic and Pacific trade lanes. Construction and real-estate booms, fuelled by foreign investment and canal toll revenues, have kept growth near 5% even after the pandemic shock. Diversified light manufacturing (cement, beverages, aircraft parts) and niche agro-exports like bananas, shrimp, and coffee round out the mix. Conservative banking regulation and low inflation safeguard macro stability, earning investment-grade debt. Yet prosperity remains uneven: rural and Indigenous provinces face poverty rates triple the urban average, and income inequality is the second widest in Latin America, tempering Panama’s headline wealth story today.

4. The Bahamas - $38,830 GDP/Capita (PPP)

The Bahamas enters North America’s 2025 wealth table in fourth place. Tourism is the undisputed engine: visitor spending, resort construction and cruise-ship traffic together generate just over half of output and employ one Bahamian in two. A dollar-pegged currency and English-speaking workforce have also nurtured an offshore financial centre, about 15 % of GDP, though stricter tax-transparency standards have trimmed licences lately. Beyond hotels and finance, the archipelago’s economy is thin: agriculture, fishing and light industry add barely 10%, and imports supply 80% of food and vulnerable to supply disruptions. A zero-income-tax regime, funded largely by a 12% VAT and tourism levies, keeps the fiscal burden low but leaves public coffers exposed to external shocks, especially swings in U.S. visitor demand, hurricanes and climate risk. Even so, political stability, high per-capita wealth and ongoing resort investment anchor the Bahamas among the region’s richest economies.

5. Trinidad and Tobago - $36,018 GDP/Capita (PPP)

Trinidad and Tobago ranks fifth on North America’s 2025 wealth. The twin-island republic is unique in the English-speaking Caribbean for its export-oriented industrial economy built on abundant offshore oil and, especially, natural-gas reserves. Energy and downstream petrochemicals provide about 40% of GDP, 80% of exports and a steady trade surplus, while massive LNG, ammonia and methanol complexes make the country a top global supplier. Hydrocarbon windfalls have financed good infrastructure, a sophisticated banking sector and Latin America’s third-highest income level, although the industry employs under 5% of workers and leaves the budget exposed to price swings. Policy now targets diversification into aluminium, plastics, creative industries and tourism, and strengthening Port of Spain’s role as a regional financial hub. If gas output rises as planned, growth near 2% should keep Trinidad and Tobago firmly in the high-income bracket for years ahead.

6. Saint Kitts and Nevis - $34,002 GDP/Capita (PPP)

After shuttering loss-making sugar estates in 2005, Saint Kitts and Nevis pivoted to a three-pillar model: tourism, light manufacturing and offshore financial services now generate 70% of output and the bulk of foreign exchange. Cruise-ship and stayover arrivals, supplemented by a thriving citizenship-by-investment programme, anchor the visitor sector, while electronics and garment plants in Basseterre’s industrial parks supply most merchandise exports. Membership in the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union provides a stable EC-dollar, but external shocks loom large: hurricanes in 1998-99 and Covid-19 underscored the economy’s exposure to climate and travel cycles. Government strategy focuses on revenue collection, food-import substitution and telecom liberalisation to broaden the base. With low unemployment, solid foreign reserves and expanding hotel stock, Saint Kitts and Nevis maintains high living standards despite its narrow resource base and micro-state vulnerabilities.

7. Antigua and Barbuda - $31,781 GDP/Capita (PPP)

Antigua and Barbuda’s is the 7th richest country in North America. Tourism dominates the service-led economy, directly and indirectly generating well over half of output and foreign exchange; cruise-ship calls to St John’s and high-end stays on the northwest coast supply the largest revenue stream. A stable East Caribbean-dollar peg, proximity to the United States (source of one-third of visitors) and an attractive Citizenship-by-Investment programme sustain hotel construction and yachting marinas, while an offshore financial centre and expanding telecoms hub add diversification. Manufacturing and agriculture remain small—hindered by scarce water and labour—but enclave plants export bedding, electronics and rum. Successive hurricanes since the 1990s have exposed infrastructure vulnerabilities, prompting fresh investment in resilient resorts, desalination and renewable power. Assuming steady U.S. growth and no major storms, Antigua and Barbuda is set to maintain high living standards and moderate, tourism-led GDP growth through mid-decade.

8. Costa Rica - $31,463 GDP/Capita (PPP)

Costa Rica enters 2025 with an estimated GDP-per-capita (PPP) of $31,463, placing it among North America’s richer mid-sized economies. After shifting from coffee and bananas to a diversified service and high-tech export model, three-quarters of output now comes from tourism, shared-services and medical-device manufacturing clustered in free-trade zones. Flagship investors such as Intel, Abbott and Amazon anchor a sophisticated corporate-services sector that employs 3% of the workforce and helps keep real GDP growth near 3% despite the drag of a 9-10% jobless rate. Ecotourism remains a powerful foreign-exchange earner, leveraging the country’s 25% protected-land network and 98% renewable electricity mix. Agriculture still supplies pineapples, coffee and beef but only 5% of GDP. Macroeconomic stability, low single-digit inflation and a free-floating colon, is tempered by a public-debt stock above 70% of GDP and pressure on transport infrastructure, prompting gradual fiscal reforms and public-private investment drives to sustain long-term inclusive growth prospects.

9. Dominican Republic - $30,875 GDP/Capita (PPP)

Thanks to a decade of near-constant expansion, the Dominican Republic enters 2025 with a GDP-per-capita (PPP) of roughly $31,000 USD, the highest in the Caribbean and closing on the North American high-income threshold. Growth has averaged 5-6% since 2010 and is projected to lift real output 79% during the 2020s. Mining, anchored by Pueblo Viejo, Latin America’s largest gold mine, now rivals tourism as a forex generator. Free-trade-zone clusters manufacturing medical devices, electrical parts and pharmaceuticals ship $6 billion USD a year, while booming near-shore BPO and telecoms services deepen diversification. Tourism still earns more than $7 billion USD annually from 6 million visitors and a 70,000-room hotel base. Agriculture remains vital at 5% of GDP, with avocados, cocoa, and bananas prominent. Remittances, $8 billion USD in 2024, underpin domestic consumption and small-business formation. Robust FDI ($2.5 billion USD a year) and a broad energy transition to gas, coal, and renewables support momentum, although public debt hovers near 59% of GDP, over the coming years.

10. Saint Lucia - $28,840 GDP/Capita (PPP)

Now mainly a service hub, Saint Lucia earns about two-thirds of its output from tourism and a growing offshore-banking niche. More than 900,000 visitors a year support hotels, yachting, retail, and transport, pushing services to 84% of GDP and delivering the foreign exchange that underpins the EC-dollar peg (EC$2.70 = US$1). Small but diverse light-manufacturing plants, beverages, corrugated boxes, and electronics add another 13%, giving the island the broadest industrial base in the eastern Caribbean.

Agriculture, once dominated by bananas, now contributes barely 3% of GDP yet still provides a fifth of all jobs. Output is shifting from bananas (13,700 t exported in 2018) to higher-value cocoa, mango, and avocado, while livestock and dairy schemes aim at import substitution. Investment-friendly fiscal incentives, reliable telecoms and an educated workforce continue to attract foreign firms, though structural unemployment hovers near 15%. Modest GDP growth of 3-4% a year keeps the island in the upper tier of Caribbean incomes for 2025.

Countries in North America Ranked by GDP/Capita (PPP)

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Date updated: 5/15/2025