California

California Exports & Foreign Investment

In 2024, California exported $183.3 billion of goods to the world. In 2022, exports from California supported an estimated 582 thousand jobs (latest data available).

Exports from California and Jobs

• California was the 2nd largest state exporter of goods in 2024.
• In 2024, California goods exports were $183.3 billion, an increase of 5 percent ($9.5 billion) from its export level in 2014.
• Goods exports accounted for 4.6 percent of California GDP in 2023 (latest data available).
• California goods exports in 2022 supported an estimated 582 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 California and Jobs

• In 2024, California exported $158.7 billion of manufactured products.
• California exports of manufactured products supported an estimated 533 thousand jobs in 2022 (latest data available).
• The state's largest manufacturing export category is computer & electronic products, which accounted for $47.9 billion of California's total goods exports in 2024.
• Other top manufacturing exports are machinery, except electrical ($18.4 billion), transportation equipment ($16.6 billion), chemicals ($16.2 billion), and miscellaneous manufactured commodities ($12.1 billion).

Exports Sustain Thousands of California Businesses many of which are SMEs

• A total of 63,953 companies exported from California locations in 2022 (latest data available). Of those, 60,617 (95 percent) were small and medium sized enterprises with fewer than 500 employees.
• Small and medium-sized firms generated 43.0 percent of California's total exports of goods in 2022.

California Depends on World Markets

• The state’s largest market was Mexico. California exported $33.5 billion in goods to Mexico in 2024, representing 18 percent of the state’s total goods exports.
• Mexico was followed by Canada ($18.4 billion), China ($15.1 billion), Japan ($10.9 billion), and Taiwan ($9.6 billion).
• California’s exports to major world areas included:

 

• 43 percent of California’s goods exports ($78.9 billion) in 2024 went to current FTA partners.  

Agriculture in California depends on Exports

• California is the country’s largest agricultural exporting state, shipping $24.7 billion in domestic agricultural exports abroad in 2022 (latest data available according to the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture).
• Top Agricultural exports were:

	2022 Value	2022 State Rank
tree nuts	$8.1 billion	1
other plant products	$3.6 billion	1
fruits, processed	$2.6 billion	1
fruits, fresh	$2.6 billion	1
vegetables, processed	$2.2 billion	1

International Investment Creates Jobs in California

• In 2022 (latest data available), foreign-controlled companies employed 852,300 California workers. Major sources of foreign investment in California included the United Kingdom, Japan and Germany.
• Foreign investment in California was responsible for 5.4 percent of the state's total private-industry employment in 2022.

California’s Major Metropolitan Areas Benefit from Exporting
In 2023 (latest data available), the following metropolitan areas in California recorded goods exports: Bakersfield-Delano ($4 billion), Chico ($264.5 million), El Centro ($5.3 billion), Fresno ($3.1 billion), Hanford-Corcoran ($280.9 million), Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim ($59.6 billion), Merced ($1 billion), Modesto ($1.5 billion), Napa ($500.2 million), Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura ($3.3 billion), Redding ($137 million), Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario ($11.2 billion), Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom ($7.6 billion), Salinas ($943.1 million), San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad ($23 billion), San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont ($24.3 billion), San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara ($23 billion), San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles ($339.9 million), Santa Cruz-Watsonville ($1 billion), Santa Maria-Santa Barbara ($1.6 billion), Santa Rosa-Petaluma ($1.1 billion), Stockton-Lodi ($4.7 billion), Vallejo ($880.6 million), Visalia ($1.4 billion), and Yuba City ($223 million).