The major similarity between the American South and the American West was that the economies of both places were directly tied to agriculture. Cattle ranching and wheat farming were very important for the West, and cotton remained an important part of the Southern economy after the war. The fortunes of many people were tied to the prices of wheat, cattle, and cotton. Lower prices on the world market brought periodic economic ruin to thousands of Americans.

Another similarity was that the economies of both regions exploited those at the bottom. While this was true of nearly all of the United States during the Gilded Age, it was especially true in the South and West, where sharecroppers and cowboys, respectively, were in perpetual debt.

Both regions experienced strong railroad growth after the Civil War. However, railroads exploited the workers and small farmers by operating local monopolies and price gouging on rates. As a result, both regions endorsed Populist tickets in 1892 and 1896: William Jennings Bryan, the Democratic candidate for president in 1896, was from Kansas, and his running mate, Tom Watson, was from Georgia.

There were some differences between the economies. The West had more unclaimed land than the South, and settlers could own land by moving to it and staking a claim, thanks to the Homestead Act of 1862. As a result, the West experienced more immigration. The West also had more mining interests than the South, though the South had some iron production. The South's most prosperous cities were more stable after they were rebuilt in the wale of the Civil War. Though the West contained many major cities, especially in California and Oregon, the region was filled with boom towns that were successful only during mining production. Market hunting was also more important in the West than the South.