Minnesota

Minnesota Exports and Foreign Investment

In 2024, Minnesota exported $26.6 billion of goods to the world. In 2022, exports from Minnesota supported an estimated 118 thousand jobs (latest data available).

Exports from Minnesota and Jobs

• Minnesota was the 23rd largest state exporter of goods in 2024.
• In 2024, Minnesota goods exports were $26.6 billion, an increase of 24 percent ($5.2 billion) from its export level in 2014.
• Goods exports accounted for 5.3 percent of Minnesota GDP in 2023 (latest data available).
• Minnesota goods exports in 2022 supported an estimated 118 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 Minnesota and Jobs

• In 2024, Minnesota exported $24.6 billion of manufactured products.
• Minnesota exports of manufactured products supported an estimated 83 thousand jobs in 2022 (latest data available).
• The state's largest manufacturing export category is computer & electronic products, which accounted for $4.4 billion of Minnesota's total goods exports in 2024.
• Other top manufacturing exports are machinery, except electrical ($3.8 billion), transportation equipment ($2.6 billion), petroleum & coal products ($2.3 billion), and miscellaneous manufactured commodities ($2.1 billion).

Exports Sustain Thousands of Minnesota Businesses many of which are SMEs

• A total of 8,121 companies exported from Minnesota locations in 2022 (latest data available). Of those, 6,983 (86 percent) were small and medium sized enterprises with fewer than 500 employees.
• Small and medium-sized firms generated 26.4 percent of Minnesota's total exports of goods in 2022.

Minnesota Depends on World Markets

• The state’s largest market was Canada. Minnesota exported $7.5 billion in goods to Canada in 2024, representing 28 percent of the state’s total goods exports.
• Canada was followed by Mexico ($4.2 billion), China ($2.0 billion), Japan ($1.0 billion), and Ireland ($782 million).
• Minnesota’s exports to major world areas included:

 

• 54 percent of Minnesota’s goods exports ($14.5 billion) in 2024 went to current FTA partners.  

Agriculture in Minnesota depends on Exports

Minnesota is the country’s 4th largest agricultural exporting state, shipping $10.0 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
soybeans	$2.9 billion	3
corn	$1.7 billion	4
feeds and other feed grains	$1.1 billion	4
pork	$907 million	2
other plant products	$634 million	8

International Investment Creates Jobs in Minnesota

• In 2022 (latest data available), foreign-controlled companies employed 159,400 Minnesota workers. Major sources of foreign investment in Minnesota included Canada, the United Kingdom and Germany.
• Foreign investment in Minnesota was responsible for 6.3 percent of the state's total private-industry employment in 2022.

Minnesota’s Major Metropolitan Areas Benefit from Exporting
In 2023 (latest data available), the following metropolitan areas in Minnesota recorded goods exports: Fargo ($880.1 million), Grand Forks ($487.9 million), La Crosse-Onalaska ($407.6 million), Sioux Falls ($510.9 million), Duluth ($1.4 billion), Mankato ($316.6 million), Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington ($22.2 billion), Rochester ($258.7 million), and St. Cloud ($257 million).