Delaware

Delaware Exports and Foreign Investment

In 2025, Delaware exported $5.5 billion of goods to the world. In 2023, exports from Delaware supported an estimated 15 thousand jobs (latest data available).

Exports from Delaware and Jobs

• Delaware was the 41st largest state exporter of goods in 2025.
• In 2025, Delaware goods exports were $5.5 billion, an increase of 1 percent ($61 million) from its export level in 2015.
• Delaware goods exports in 2023 supported an estimated 15 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 Delaware and Jobs

• In 2025, Delaware exported $5.1 billion of manufactured products.
• Delaware exports of manufactured products supported an estimated 14 thousand jobs in 2023 (latest data available).
• The state's largest manufacturing export category was chemicals, which accounted for $1.6 billion of Delaware total goods exports in 2025.
• Other top manufacturing exports were computer & electronic products ($1.0 billion), transportation equipment ($673 million), machinery, except electrical ($498 million), and plastics & rubber products ($228 million).

Exports Sustain Thousands of Delaware Businesses many of which are SMEs

• A total of 2,170 companies exported from Delaware locations in 2023 (latest data available). Of those, 1,897 (87 percent) were small and medium-sized enterprises with fewer than 500 employees.
• Small and medium-sized firms generated 21.1 percent of Delaware total exports of goods in 2023.

Delaware's Largest Export Markets

• The state’s largest export market was the United Arab Emirates. Delaware exported $726 million in goods to the United Arab Emirates in 2025, representing 13 percent of the state’s total goods exports.
• The United Arab Emirates was followed by Canada ($725 million), China ($405 million), Mexico ($305 million), and South Korea ($287 million).
• Delaware goods exports to major world areas included:

• 32 percent of Delaware goods exports ($1.7 billion) in 2025 went to current FTA partners. 

Delaware's Top Agricultural Exports

• Delaware was the country’s 39th largest agricultural exporting state, shipping $364 million 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
broiler meat	$150 million	7
other plant products	$72 million	45
soybeans	$38 million	27
corn	$28 million	30
feeds and other feed grains	$20 million	38

International Investment Creates Jobs in Delaware

• In 2023 (latest data available), foreign-controlled companies employed an estimated 36 thousand Delaware workers. Major sources of foreign investment in Delaware included the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Germany.

Delaware’s Major Metropolitan Areas Benefit from Exporting

• In 2024 (latest data available), the following metropolitan areas in Delaware recorded goods exports: Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington ($29.1 billion) and Dover ($388.9 million).