This paper examines efficiency and growth patterns in the production of output and ideas in the United States. It employs frontier techniques and jointly estimates the production of output and the production of ideas. We find states to be particularly efficient in the use of their inputs in the production of output process, whereas there is more waste in the use of innovation resources to produce new knowledge. The results do not lend support to the common perception that richer (more innovative) states are more efficient than less rich (less innovative) states for every dollar spent.