Montana

Montana Exports and Foreign Investment

In 2024, Montana exported a record $2.4 billion of goods to the world. In 2022, exports from Montana supported an estimated 9,000 jobs (latest data available).

Exports from Montana and Jobs

• Montana was the 46th largest state exporter of goods in 2024.
• In 2024, Montana goods exports were $2.4 billion, an increase of 53 percent ($826 million) from its export level in 2014.
• Goods exports accounted for 3.2 percent of Montana GDP in 2023 (latest data available).
• Montana goods exports in 2022 supported an estimated 9,000 jobs (latest data available). Nationally, jobs supported by goods exports pay up to an estimated 18 percent above the national average.

Manufacturing Exports from Montana and Jobs

• In 2024, Montana exported $1.5 billion of manufactured products.
• Montana exports of manufactured products supported an estimated 4,000 jobs in 2022 (latest data available).
• The state's largest manufacturing export category is chemicals, which accounted for $533 million of Montana's total goods exports in 2024.
• Other top manufacturing exports are machinery, except electrical ($294 million), transportation equipment ($278 million), primary metal manufacturing ($72 million), and nonmetallic mineral products ($68 million).

Exports Sustain Montana Businesses many of which are SMEs

• A total of 1,432 companies exported from Montana locations in 2022 (latest data available). Of those, 1,228 (86 percent) were small and medium sized enterprises with fewer than 500 employees.
• Small and medium-sized firms generated 64.1 percent of Montana's total exports of goods in 2022.

Montana Depends on World Markets

• The state’s largest market was Canada. Montana exported $869 million in goods to Canada in 2024, representing 37 percent of the state’s total goods exports.
• Canada was followed by South Korea ($250 million), Japan ($161 million), Belgium ($98 million), and China ($96 million).
• Montana’s exports to major world areas included:

 

• 57 percent of Montana’s goods exports ($1.3 billion) in 2024 went to current FTA partners.  

Agriculture in Montana depends on Exports

Montana is the country’s 32nd largest agricultural exporting state, shipping $1.5 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
wheat	$688 million	3
beef and veal	$219 million	14
other plant products	$108 million	38
feeds and other feed grains	$100 million	22
grain products, processed	$74 million	17

International Investment Creates Jobs in Montana

• In 2022 (latest data available), foreign-controlled companies employed 10,300 Montana workers. Major sources of foreign investment in Montana included the United Kingdom, Canada and France.
• Foreign investment in Montana was responsible for 2.4 percent of the state's total private-industry employment in 2022.

Montana’s Major Metropolitan Areas Benefit from Exporting
In 2023 (latest data available), the following metropolitan areas in Montana recorded goods exports: Billings ($119.2 million), Bozeman ($287.8 million), Great Falls ($56.3 million), Helena ($175.7 million), and Missoula ($113.6 million).