As the US approaches its 250th anniversary, McKinsey helped to ring the opening bell today at the New York Stock Exchange, an iconic setting for our firm to launch new McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) research on the future of US economic competitiveness.
At 250, sustaining America’s competitive edge, traces how the United States built its economic leadership—and asks what it will take to sustain it in a world reshaped by AI geopolitics, and demographic change.
The new report coincides with McKinsey’s role as a programming partner to America250, the national nonpartisan organization charged by Congress to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
The US still leads—but the world is changing
As the research shows, the United States remains the world’s most competitive economy at 250. The US generates 26 percent of global GDP with just 4 percent of the world’s population and is home to 59 of the world’s top 100 companies by market capitalization. In recent years, productivity growth has picked up compared with other advanced economies, and foreign direct investment into the US has accelerated.
America also continues to lead in innovation. It accounts for 27 percent of global R&D spending and more than half of today’s most notable AI models. By one accounting, Americans created or supported 76 of the 100 most important inventions since 1776.
But AI is advancing at extraordinary speed. Geopolitical tensions are rising. Fertility rates are falling. Competition in critical technologies—from semiconductors to robotics—is intensifying. Rising federal debt, aging infrastructure, slipping educational outcomes, and persistent income gaps present real challenges to long-term competitiveness.
"The United States has sustained its economic edge for 250 years not because leadership was inevitable, but because it continually adapted—realigning its institutions, its infrastructure, and its talent to new technologies and new geopolitical realities,” says Rebecca J. Anderson, an MGI senior fellow who led the research. “Competitiveness must be continually renewed. In an era defined by AI, demographic shifts, and global fragmentation, the imperative is not to defend yesterday’s model but to build the next one."
What has always made America competitive
The report identifies two enduring foundations of US competitiveness: a culture of innovation and extraordinary natural abundance.
From the earliest days of the republic, Americans embraced invention and entrepreneurship. That mindset—combined with strong institutions and deep capital markets—helped turn new ideas into global industries.
At the same time, the country has benefited from remarkable resources. Historically, the US had roughly twice as much agricultural land per person as any other large economy and was largely self-sufficient in energy for about 200 years—including again since 2019. These advantages helped power growth across agriculture, industry, science, and now digital technologies. Safeguarding America’s competitive edge will require evolution once again. That means building an AI-fluent workforce, ensuring sustained long-term investment, expanding energy and infrastructure capacity, and strengthening economic resilience in a more volatile world.
Competitiveness hinges on more than GDP or stock prices. It’s about opportunity—productive jobs, rising wages, and economic security for all. America’s strengths are immense, but sustaining leadership in the age of AI will require renewed commitment to growth, innovation, and shared prosperity for the next 250 years.
“For 250 years, America’s prosperity has been powered by innovation, deep capital markets, global talent, and the courage to reinvent its economic model,” says Eric Kutcher, senior partner and chair of North America. “That edge is still real, but leadership isn’t guaranteed. In the AI era, the advantage will go to those who turn breakthrough innovation into sustained productivity growth and build the resilience to support it. The next chapter will reward speed, scale, and execution.”
“America250 is proud to welcome McKinsey as a programming partner as we work to educate, engage and unite the nation while marking 250 years of American enterprise,” said Rosie Rios, chair of America250. “The new research on US economic competitiveness not only highlights the extraordinary foundation built over the past two and a half centuries, but also challenges us to think boldly about how we sustain and strengthen America’s economic leadership for the next 250 years.”
Ringing the bell at the NYSE was a symbolic start. The deeper work—across the country, throughout the year—will focus on how to sustain and sharpen America’s competitive edge for the next 250 years. As the nation marks its semi-quincentennial, McKinsey also celebrates its 100th year—an opportunity to reflect on a century of supporting clients through moments of economic transformation and to contribute to the next chapter of American growth.