> analogy is quite misleading, because, in addition to California, there is also Wyoming, with a population of less than <600k

Wyoming has the population of Malta [1][2] but the GDP/capita of the United States and Norway [3][4]. It should be expected we'd have a different optimal solution from California.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyoming 588,000 in 2024

[2] https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/population-by... 545,000

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territ... $90,000 in 2024

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nomi...