California

California Exports & Foreign Investment

 

In 2023, California exported not a record $178.7 billion of goods to the world.  In 2021, exports from California supported an estimated 584 thousand jobs.

 

Exports from California and Jobs

• California was the 2^nd largest state exporter of goods in 2023.
• In 2023, California goods exports were $178.7 billion, an increase of 6 percent ($11 billion) from its export level in 2013 (latest data available).
• Goods exports accounted for 4.6 percent of California GDP in 2023 (latest data available).
• California goods exports in 2021 (latest data available) supported an estimated 584 thousand jobs. Nationally, jobs supported by goods exports pay up to an estimated 18 percent above the national average.

Manufacturing Exports from California and Jobs

• In 2023, California exported $154.9 billion of manufactured products.
• California exports of manufactured products supported an estimated 524 thousand jobs in 2021 (latest data available).
• The state's largest manufacturing export category is computer and electronic products, which accounted for $41.0 billion of California's total goods exports in 2023.
• Other top manufacturing exports are transportation equipment ($18.2 billion), machinery, except electrical ($17.7 billion), chemicals ($17.0 billion), and miscellaneous manufactured commodities ($13.5 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 $33.3 billion in goods to Mexico in 2023, representing 19 percent of the state’s total goods exports.
• Mexico was followed by Canada ($19.1 billion), China ($16.9 billion), Japan ($10.6 billion), and Korea, South ($9.4 billion).
• California’s exports to major world areas included:

 

• 44 percent of California’s goods exports ($78.5 billion) in 2023 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).^[1]
• Top Agricultural exports were:

 

International Investment Creates Jobs in California

• In 2021 (latest data available), foreign-controlled companies employed 816,400 California workers. Major sources of foreign investment in California included the United Kingdom, Japan and Germany.
• Foreign investment in California was responsible for 5.5 percent of the state's total private-industry employment in 2021.

California’s Major Metropolitan Areas Benefit from Exporting

In 2022 (latest data available), the following metropolitan areas in California recorded goods exports: Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim ($61 billion), San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley ($30.6 billion), San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad ($24.7 billion), San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara ($24.3 billion), Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario ($11.3 billion), Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom ($5.7 billion), El Centro ($5.3 billion), Stockton ($5.1 billion), Fresno ($3.4 billion), Bakersfield ($3.4 billion), Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura ($3.1 billion), Modesto ($1.7 billion), Santa Maria-Santa Barbara ($1.6 billion), Visalia ($1.6 billion), Santa Rosa-Petaluma ($1.3 billion), Merced ($1.1 billion), Salinas ($1.1 billion), Santa Cruz-Watsonville ($967.6 million), Vallejo ($836.6 million), Napa ($532.2 million), Madera ($499.4 million), Hanford-Corcoran ($396.4 million), San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles ($308.2 million), Chico ($302.3 million), Yuba City ($274.5 million), and Redding ($130 million).