Kentucky

Kentucky Exports & Foreign Investment

 

In 2023, Kentucky exported a record $40.2 billion of goods to the world.  In 2021, exports from Kentucky supported an estimated 109 thousand jobs.

 

Exports from Kentucky and Jobs

• Kentucky was the 15^th largest state exporter of goods in 2023.
• In 2023, Kentucky goods exports were $40.2 billion, an increase of 58 percent ($15 billion) from its export level in 2013 (latest data available).
• Goods exports accounted for 14.5 percent of Kentucky GDP in 2023 (latest data available).
• Kentucky goods exports in 2021 (latest data available) supported an estimated 109 thousand jobs. Nationally, jobs supported by goods exports pay up to an estimated 18 percent above the national average.

Manufacturing Exports from Kentucky and Jobs

• In 2023, Kentucky exported $39.2 billion of manufactured products.
• Kentucky exports of manufactured products supported an estimated 98 thousand jobs in 2021 (latest data available).
• The state's largest manufacturing export category is transportation equipment, which accounted for $19.2 billion of Kentucky's total goods exports in 2023.
• Other top manufacturing exports are chemicals ($7.1 billion), computer and electronic products ($3.1 billion), machinery, except electrical ($2.4 billion), and miscellaneous manufactured commodities ($1.4 billion).

 

Exports Sustain Thousands of Kentucky Businesses many of which are SMEs

• A total of 4,731 companies exported from Kentucky locations in 2022 (latest data available). Of those, 3,723 (79 percent) were small and medium sized enterprises with fewer than 500 employees.
•  Small and medium-sized firms generated 11.0 percent of Kentucky's total exports of goods in 2022.

 

Kentucky Depends on World Markets

• The state’s largest market was Canada. Kentucky exported $9.1 billion in goods to Canada in 2023, representing 23 percent of the state’s total goods exports.
• Canada was followed by United Kingdom ($3.8 billion), Mexico ($3.7 billion), France ($3.7 billion), and China ($2.9 billion).
• Kentucky’s exports to major world areas included:

 

• 39 percent of Kentucky’s goods exports ($15.8 billion) in 2023 went to current FTA partners. 

Agriculture in Kentucky depends on Exports

• Kentucky is the country’s 20^th largest agricultural exporting state, shipping $3.3 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 Kentucky

• In 2021 (latest data available), foreign-controlled companies employed 140,200 Kentucky workers. Major sources of foreign investment in Kentucky included Japan, Germany and Canada. 
• Foreign investment in Kentucky was responsible for 8.6 percent of the state's total private-industry employment in 2021.

Kentucky’s Major Metropolitan Areas Benefit from Exporting

In 2022 (latest data available), the following metropolitan areas in Kentucky recorded goods exports: Lexington-Fayette ($2.7 billion), Huntington-Ashland ($1.2 billion), Bowling Green ($486.7 million), Clarksville ($376.7 million), Owensboro ($140.9 million), and Elizabethtown-Fort Knox ($126.8 million).