Minnesota

Minnesota Exports & Foreign Investment

 

In 2023, Minnesota exported not a record $24.9 billion of goods to the world.  In 2021, exports from Minnesota supported an estimated 118 thousand jobs.

 

Exports from Minnesota and Jobs

• Minnesota was the 23^rd largest state exporter of goods in 2023.
• In 2023, Minnesota goods exports were $24.9 billion, an increase of 20 percent ($4.2 billion) from its export level in 2013 (latest data available).
• Goods exports accounted for 5.3 percent of Minnesota GDP in 2023 (latest data available).
• Minnesota goods exports in 2021 (latest data available) supported an estimated 118 thousand jobs. Nationally, jobs supported by goods exports pay up to an estimated 18 percent above the national average.

Manufacturing Exports from Minnesota and Jobs

• In 2023, Minnesota exported $22.5 billion of manufactured products.
• Minnesota exports of manufactured products supported an estimated 81 thousand jobs in 2021 (latest data available).
• The state's largest manufacturing export category is computer and electronic products, which accounted for $4.4 billion of Minnesota's total goods exports in 2023.
• Other top manufacturing exports are machinery, except electrical ($4.0 billion), transportation equipment ($2.4 billion), miscellaneous manufactured commodities ($2.1 billion), and food and kindred products ($1.9 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 $7.0 billion in goods to Canada in 2023, representing 28 percent of the state’s total goods exports.
• Canada was followed by Mexico ($3.3 billion), China ($2.2 billion), Japan ($996 million), and Germany ($884 million).
• Minnesota’s exports to major world areas included:

 

• 52 percent of Minnesota’s goods exports ($13.0 billion) in 2023 went to current FTA partners. 

Agriculture in Minnesota depends on Exports

• Minnesota is the country’s 4^th 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).^[1]
• Top Agricultural exports were:

 

International Investment Creates Jobs in Minnesota

• In 2021 (latest data available), foreign-controlled companies employed 157,400 Minnesota workers. Major sources of foreign investment in Minnesota included Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom.
• Foreign investment in Minnesota was responsible for 6.4 percent of the state's total private-industry employment in 2021.

Minnesota’s Major Metropolitan Areas Benefit from Exporting

In 2022 (latest data available), the following metropolitan areas in Minnesota recorded goods exports: Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington ($22 billion), Rochester ($4.3 billion), Duluth ($1.5 billion), La Crosse-Onalaska ($435.9 million), Mankato ($303.3 million), and St. Cloud ($272.2 million).