2011 growth rate: -0.5%
Economy size: $487 billion*
The real estate market in New Jersey bumped along the bottom with very low levels of activity in 2011.
Power outages from hurricanes last summer and mild temperatures into winter dragged down the utilities sector, also contributing to New Jersey's slowdown.
But not all news was bad: the state's professional and technical services industry, made up of professionals from accountants to lawyers to researchers, finally started to rebound from losses in the 2008 recession.
NEXT: Hawaii
