Idaho

Idaho Exports & Foreign Investment

 

In 2023, Idaho exported not a record $4.0 billion of goods to the world.  In 2021, exports from Idaho supported an estimated 15 thousand jobs.

 

Exports from Idaho and Jobs

• Idaho was the 43^rd largest state exporter of goods in 2023.
• In 2023, Idaho goods exports were $4.0 billion, a decrease of 31 percent ($1.8 billion) from its export level in 2013 (latest data available).
• Goods exports accounted for 3.4 percent of Idaho GDP in 2023 (latest data available).
• Idaho goods exports in 2021 (latest data available) supported an estimated 15 thousand jobs. Nationally, jobs supported by goods exports pay up to an estimated 18 percent above the national average.

Manufacturing Exports from Idaho and Jobs

• In 2023, Idaho exported $3.2 billion of manufactured products.
• Idaho exports of manufactured products supported an estimated 10 thousand jobs in 2021 (latest data available).
• The state's largest manufacturing export category is food and kindred products, which accounted for $833 million of Idaho's total goods exports in 2023.
• Other top manufacturing exports are computer and electronic products ($812 million), chemicals ($440 million), primary metal manufacturing ($311 million), and machinery, except electrical ($252 million).

 

Exports Sustain Thousands of Idaho Businesses many of which are SMEs

• A total of 1,699 companies exported from Idaho locations in 2022 (latest data available). Of those, 1,416 (83 percent) were small and medium sized enterprises with fewer than 500 employees.
•  Small and medium-sized firms generated 35.1 percent of Idaho's total exports of goods in 2022.

 

Idaho Depends on World Markets

• The state’s largest market was Canada. Idaho exported $1.5 billion in goods to Canada in 2023, representing 37 percent of the state’s total goods exports.
• Canada was followed by Taiwan ($504 million), Mexico ($284 million), Japan ($237 million), and Singapore ($208 million).
• Idaho’s exports to major world areas included:

 

• 56 percent of Idaho’s goods exports ($2.2 billion) in 2023 went to current FTA partners. 

Agriculture in Idaho depends on Exports

• Idaho is the country’s 21^st largest agricultural exporting state, shipping $2.9 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 Idaho

• In 2021 (latest data available), foreign-controlled companies employed 20,500 Idaho workers. Major sources of foreign investment in Idaho included Canada, Germany and France. 
• Foreign investment in Idaho was responsible for 3.0 percent of the state's total private-industry employment in 2021.

Idaho’s Major Metropolitan Areas Benefit from Exporting

In 2022 (latest data available), the following metropolitan areas in Idaho recorded goods exports: Coeur d'Alene ($496.1 million), Twin Falls ($369.2 million), Idaho Falls ($212.9 million), Pocatello ($160.4 million), and Lewiston ($132.9 million).