Tasmania and Queensland are the fastest-rising state economies as a plunging housing market helps drag NSW to near the bottom of the leaderboard.
The island state rose from third to first place among states and territories in CommSec's quarterly State of the States report, which gauges the economic "momentum" of each region.
CommSec chief economist Craig James said Tasmania had returned to the top of the rankings due to consistently high scores across all indicators.
Queensland's second position was its highest place in the 13-year history of the survey as strong population growth and low relative unemployment buoyed its economy.
The state enjoyed a population boom during the COVID-19 pandemic as residents abandoned the larger capitals for Brisbane and other locations like the Gold Coast.
"When looking at annual growth to get a guide on economic momentum, Queensland had annual growth rates that exceeded the national average on five of the eight indicators," Mr James said.
NSW, which ranked ahead of only the Northern Territory, was weighed down by its low growth in housing finance as Sydney experienced the sharpest fall in property prices of the country's major cities.
Victoria dropped to fifth in the rankings after soaring to first place in July after the lifting of COVID-related restrictions.
The southern state lagged others when it came to relative economic growth and dwelling starts.
Mr James said much of the states and territories' future economic performance would depend on how they responded to a period of rising interest rates.
The report weighs the recent performance of states and territories across eight key indicators against what is considered "normal" for each region to produce a measure of each region's economic momentum, rather than directly comparing figures for each state.
Based on a comparison of annual growth rates instead, the NT had the strongest economic growth in the country with a 29.9 per cent increase in activity, followed by Queensland with 21.3 per cent.
NSW recorded the best employment growth at 9.2 cent, nearly double that of its closest competitors.
HOW THE STATES FARED
Tasmania: 1st
Queensland: 2nd
ACT: 3rd
WA: 4th
South Australia: 5th
Victoria: 6th
NSW: 7th
NT: 8th
