Connecticut

Connecticut Exports and Foreign Investment

In 2024, Connecticut exported $17.4 billion of goods to the world. In 2022, exports from Connecticut supported an estimated 50 thousand jobs (latest data available).

Exports from Connecticut and Jobs

• Connecticut was the 28th largest state exporter of goods in 2024.
• In 2024, Connecticut goods exports were $17.4 billion, an increase of 9 percent ($1.4 billion) from its export level in 2014.
• Goods exports accounted for 4.7 percent of Connecticut GDP in 2023 (latest data available).
• Connecticut goods exports in 2022 supported an estimated 50 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 Connecticut and Jobs

• In 2024, Connecticut exported $16.1 billion of manufactured products.
• Connecticut exports of manufactured products supported an estimated 49 thousand jobs in 2022 (latest data available).
• The state's largest manufacturing export category is transportation equipment, which accounted for $6.2 billion of Connecticut's total goods exports in 2024.
• Other top manufacturing exports are machinery, except electrical ($3.3 billion), computer & electronic products ($1.3 billion), electrical equipment, appliances & components ($1.2 billion), and fabricated metal products, not elsewhere specified ($1.1 billion).

Exports Sustain Thousands of Connecticut Businesses many of which are SMEs

• A total of 5,360 companies exported from Connecticut locations in 2022 (latest data available). Of those, 4,680 (87 percent) were small and medium sized enterprises with fewer than 500 employees.
• Small and medium-sized firms generated 47.8 percent of Connecticut's total exports of goods in 2022.

Connecticut Depends on World Markets

• The state’s largest market was Canada. Connecticut exported $2.3 billion in goods to Canada in 2024, representing 13 percent of the state’s total goods exports.
• Canada was followed by Germany ($1.8 billion), Mexico ($1.7 billion), China ($1.5 billion), and Netherlands ($1.2 billion).
• Connecticut’s exports to major world areas included:

 

• 35 percent of Connecticut’s goods exports ($6.1 billion) in 2024 went to current FTA partners.  

Agriculture in Connecticut depends on Exports

• Connecticut is the country’s 43rd largest agricultural exporting state, shipping $286 million 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
other plant products	$233 million	24
other livestock products	$21 million	44
dairy products	$19 million	34
other poultry products	$9 million	40
beef and veal	$2 million	44

International Investment Creates Jobs in Connecticut

• In 2022 (latest data available), foreign-controlled companies employed 113,200 Connecticut workers. Major sources of foreign investment in Connecticut included the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Germany.
• Foreign investment in Connecticut was responsible for 7.7 percent of the state's total private-industry employment in 2022.

Connecticut’s Major Metropolitan Areas Benefit from Exporting
In 2023 (latest data available), the following metropolitan areas in Connecticut recorded goods exports: Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury ($5 billion), Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford ($11 billion), New Haven ($2.3 billion), Norwich-New London-Willimantic ($261.4 million), and Waterbury-Shelton ($1.8 billion).