North Dakota

North Dakota Exports and Foreign Investment

In 2024, North Dakota exported $5.5 billion of goods to the world.  In 2022, exports from North Dakota supported an estimated 33 thousand jobs (latest data available).

Exports from North Dakota and Jobs

• North Dakota was the 40th largest state exporter of goods in 2024.
• In 2024, North Dakota goods exports were $5.5 billion, about the same as its export level in 2014.
• Goods exports accounted for 7.3 percent of North Dakota GDP in 2024.
• North Dakota goods exports in 2022 supported an estimated 33 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 North Dakota and Jobs

• In 2024, North Dakota exported $4.0 billion of manufactured products.
• North Dakota exports of manufactured products supported an estimated 13 thousand jobs in 2022 (latest data available).
• The state's largest manufacturing export category is petroleum & coal products, which accounted for $1.6 billion of North Dakota's total goods exports in 2024.
• Other top manufacturing exports are machinery, except electrical ($1.1 billion), chemicals ($439 million), food & kindred products ($247 million), and transportation equipment ($161 million).

Exports Sustain North Dakota Businesses many of which are SMEs

• A total of 1,745 companies exported from North Dakota locations in 2023 (latest data available). Of those, 1,456 (83 percent) were small and medium sized enterprises with fewer than 500 employees.
• Small and medium-sized firms generated 23.6 percent of North Dakota's total exports of goods in 2023.

North Dakota Depends on World Markets

• The state’s largest market was Canada. North Dakota exported $3.9 billion in goods to Canada in 2024, representing 70 percent of the state’s total goods exports.
• Canada was followed by Mexico ($696 million), Australia ($252 million), Czech Republic ($75 million), and Brazil ($64 million).
• North Dakota’s exports to major world areas included:

• 88 percent of North Dakota’s goods exports ($4.9 billion) in 2024 went to current FTA partners.  

Agriculture in North Dakota depends on Exports

• North Dakota is the country’s 9th largest agricultural exporting state, shipping $5.4 billion in domestic agricultural exports abroad in 2023 (latest data available according to the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture).
• Top Agricultural exports were:

	2023 Value	2023 State Rank
soybeans	$1.3 billion	9
wheat	$1.2 billion	1
other oilseeds and products	$736 million	1
soybean meal	$343 million	9
corn	$328 million	11

International Investment Creates Jobs in North Dakota

• In 2022 (latest data available), foreign-controlled companies employed 15,600 North Dakota workers. Major sources of foreign investment in North Dakota included Canada, the United Kingdom and Japan.
• Foreign investment in North Dakota was responsible for 4.5 percent of the state's total private-industry employment in 2022.

North Dakota’s Major Metropolitan Areas Benefit from Exporting

In 2023 (latest data available), the following metropolitan areas in North Dakota recorded goods exports: Bismarck ($85 million), Fargo ($880.1 million), Grand Forks ($487.9 million), and Minot ($339.9 million).