Arkansas

Arkansas Exports & Foreign Investment

In 2025, Arkansas exported $6.6 billion of goods to the world. In 2023, exports from Arkansas supported an estimated 31 thousand jobs (latest data available).

Exports from Arkansas and Jobs

• Arkansas was the 40th largest state exporter of goods in 2025.
• In 2025, Arkansas goods exports were $6.6 billion, an increase of 13 percent ($774 million) from its export level in 2015.
• Arkansas goods exports in 2023 supported an estimated 31 thousand jobs (latest data available). Nationally, jobs supported by goods exports pay up to an estimated 18 percent above the national average.

Manufacturing Exports from Arkansas and Jobs

• In 2025, Arkansas exported $5.8 billion of manufactured products.
• Arkansas exports of manufactured products supported an estimated 19 thousand jobs in 2023 (latest data available).
• The state's largest manufacturing export category was transportation equipment, which accounted for $1.7 billion of Arkansas total goods exports in 2025.
• Other top manufacturing exports were food & kindred products ($1.1 billion), chemicals ($663 million), paper ($507 million), and machinery, except electrical ($426 million).

Exports Sustain Thousands of Arkansas Businesses many of which are SMEs

• A total of 2,167 companies exported from Arkansas locations in 2023 (latest data available). Of those, 1,681 (78 percent) were small and medium-sized enterprises with fewer than 500 employees.
• Small and medium-sized firms generated 24.3 percent of Arkansas's total exports of goods in 2023.

Arkansas's Largest Export Markets

• The state’s largest export market was Mexico. Arkansas exported $1.5 billion in goods to Mexico in 2025, representing 23 percent of the state’s total goods exports.
• Mexico was followed by Canada ($1.3 billion), France ($937 million), the United Kingdom ($182 million), and China ($170 million).
• Arkansas goods exports to major world areas included:

 

• 50 percent of Arkansas goods exports ($3.3 billion) in 2025 went to current FTA partners.

Arkansas's Top Agricultural Exports

• Arkansas was the country’s 14th largest agricultural exporting state, shipping $4.1 billion in domestic agricultural exports abroad in 2024 (latest data available according to the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture).1
• Top agricultural exports were:

	2024 Value	2024 State Rank
rice	$1.1 billion	1
soybeans	$877 million	10
broiler meat	$526 million	3
cotton	$482 million	3
soybean meal	$229 million	10

International Investment Creates Jobs in Arkansas

• In 2023 (latest data available), foreign-controlled companies employed an estimated 61 thousand Arkansas workers. Major sources of foreign investment in Arkansas included the United Kingdom, France, and Japan.

Arkansas’s Major Metropolitan Areas Benefit from Exporting

• In 2024 (latest data available), the following metropolitan areas in Arkansas recorded goods exports: Memphis ($17.4 billion), Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway ($1.6 billion), Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers ($963.4 million), Texarkana ($509.5 million), Fort Smith ($485.7 million), Jonesboro ($298.4 million), and Hot Springs ($88.1 million).