California

California Exports & Foreign Investment

In 2025, California exported a record $188.4 billion of goods to the world. In 2023, exports from California supported an estimated 527 thousand jobs (latest data available).

Exports from California and Jobs

• California was the 2nd largest state exporter of goods in 2025.
• In 2025, California goods exports were $188.4 billion, an increase of 14 percent ($23 billion) from its export level in 2015.
• California goods exports in 2023 supported an estimated 527 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 2025, California exported $161.9 billion of manufactured products.
• California exports of manufactured products supported an estimated 486 thousand jobs in 2023 (latest data available).
• The state's largest manufacturing export category was computer & electronic products, which accounted for $54.3 billion of California total goods exports in 2025.
• Other top manufacturing exports were machinery, except electrical ($17.3 billion), chemicals ($17.2 billion), transportation equipment ($17.1 billion), and food & kindred products ($11.1 billion).

Exports Sustain Thousands of California Businesses many of which are SMEs

• A total of 61,340 companies exported from California locations in 2023 (latest data available). Of those, 57,949 (95 percent) were small and medium-sized enterprises with fewer than 500 employees.
• Small and medium-sized firms generated 42.3 percent of California's total exports of goods in 2023.

California's Largest Export Markets

• The state’s largest export market was Mexico. California exported $34.9 billion in goods to Mexico in 2025, representing 19 percent of the state’s total goods exports.
• Mexico was followed by Canada ($17.0 billion), Taiwan ($14.3 billion), Japan ($11.0 billion), and China ($10.3 billion).
• California goods exports to major world areas included:

• 42 percent of California goods exports ($79.0 billion) in 2025 went to current FTA partners.

California's Top Agricultural Exports

• California was the country’s largest agricultural exporting state, shipping $26.3 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
tree nuts	$9.2 billion	1
other plant products	$3.5 billion	1
fruits, fresh	$3.1 billion	1
vegetables, processed	$2.8 billion	1
fruits, processed	$2.5 billion	1

International Investment Creates Jobs in California

• In 2023 (latest data available), foreign-controlled companies employed an estimated 886 thousand California workers. Major sources of foreign investment in California included Japan, the United Kingdom, and Canada.

California’s Major Metropolitan Areas Benefit from Exporting

• In 2024 (latest data available), the following metropolitan areas in California recorded goods exports: Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim ($58.9 billion), San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad ($24.9 billion), San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont ($23.8 billion), San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara ($23.7 billion), Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario ($11 billion), Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom ($6.7 billion), Stockton-Lodi ($5.8 billion), El Centro ($5.8 billion), Bakersfield-Delano ($4.1 billion), Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura ($3.4 billion), Fresno ($3.1 billion), Santa Maria-Santa Barbara ($1.8 billion), Visalia ($1.7 billion), Modesto ($1.5 billion), Merced ($1.3 billion), Santa Cruz-Watsonville ($1.2 billion), Vallejo ($1.1 billion), Santa Rosa-Petaluma ($1.1 billion), Salinas ($986.5 million), Napa ($475.2 million), San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles ($398.8 million), Hanford-Corcoran ($323.2 million), Chico ($248.4 million), Yuba City ($205.2 million), and Redding ($104.3 million).