Idaho

Idaho Exports and Foreign Investment

In 2024, Idaho exported $4.2 billion of goods to the world. In 2022, exports from Idaho supported an estimated 16 thousand jobs (latest data available).

Exports from Idaho and Jobs

• Idaho was the 43rd largest state exporter of goods in 2024.
• In 2024, Idaho goods exports were $4.2 billion, a decrease of 17 percent ($889 million) from its export level in 2014.
• Goods exports accounted for 3.4 percent of Idaho GDP in 2023 (latest data available).
• Idaho goods exports in 2022 supported an estimated 16 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 Idaho and Jobs

• In 2024, Idaho exported $3.5 billion of manufactured products.
• Idaho exports of manufactured products supported an estimated 12 thousand jobs in 2022 (latest data available).
• The state's largest manufacturing export category is food & kindred products, which accounted for $899 million of Idaho's total goods exports in 2024.
• Other top manufacturing exports are computer & electronic products ($774 million), chemicals ($674 million), machinery, except electrical ($263 million), and primary metal manufacturing ($222 million).

Exports Sustain 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 $1.6 billion in goods to Canada in 2024, representing 38 percent of the state’s total goods exports.
• Canada was followed by Taiwan ($473 million), Mexico ($305 million), Singapore ($246 million), and Japan ($207 million).
• Idaho’s exports to major world areas included:

 

• 58 percent of Idaho’s goods exports ($2.5 billion) in 2024 went to current FTA partners.  

Agriculture in Idaho depends on Exports

Idaho is the country’s 21st 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).

Top Agricultural exports were:

	2022 Value	2022 State Rank
dairy products	$714 million	3
other plant products	$584 million	9
wheat	$385 million	6
vegetables, processed	$321 million	3
beef and veal	$307 million	12

International Investment Creates Jobs in Idaho

• In 2022 (latest data available), foreign-controlled companies employed 21,000 Idaho workers. Major sources of foreign investment in Idaho included Canada, Canada and Germany.
• Foreign investment in Idaho was responsible for 3.0 percent of the state's total private-industry employment in 2022.

Idaho’s Major Metropolitan Areas Benefit from Exporting
In 2023 (latest data available), the following metropolitan areas in Idaho recorded goods exports: Boise City ($1.9 billion), Idaho Falls ($291.9 million), Lewiston ($184.1 million), Pocatello ($156.2 million), and Twin Falls ($297.8 million).