Nebraska

Nebraska Exports and Foreign Investment

In 2025, Nebraska exported $7.8 billion of goods to the world. In 2023, exports from Nebraska supported an estimated 47 thousand jobs (latest data available).

Exports from Nebraska and Jobs

• Nebraska was the 36th largest state exporter of goods in 2025.
• In 2025, Nebraska goods exports were $7.8 billion, an increase of 17 percent ($1.1 billion) from its export level in 2015.
• Nebraska goods exports in 2023 supported an estimated 47 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 Nebraska and Jobs

• In 2025, Nebraska exported $6.2 billion of manufactured products.
• Nebraska’s exports of manufactured products supported an estimated 28 thousand jobs in 2023 (latest data available).
• The state's largest manufacturing export category was food & kindred products, which accounted for $3.0 billion of Nebraska's total goods exports in 2025.
• Other top manufacturing exports were machinery, except electrical ($859 million), chemicals ($779 million), transportation equipment ($409 million), and computer & electronic products ($331 million).

Exports Sustain Thousands of Nebraska Businesses many of which are SMEs

• A total of 1,753 companies exported from Nebraska locations in 2023 (latest data available). Of those, 1,415 (81 percent) were small and medium-sized enterprises with fewer than 500 employees.
• Small and medium-sized firms generated 19.7 percent of Nebraska's total exports of goods in 2023.

Nebraska's Largest Export Markets

• The state’s largest export market was Mexico. Nebraska exported $1.9 billion in goods to Mexico in 2025, representing 25 percent of the state’s total goods exports.
• Mexico was followed by Canada ($1.5 billion), Korea, South ($728 million), Japan ($616 million), and China ($301 million).
• Nebraska goods exports to major world areas included:

• 61 percent of Nebraska goods exports ($4.8 billion) in 2025 went to current FTA partners.

Nebraska's Top Agricultural Exports

• Nebraska was the country’s 5th largest agricultural exporting state, shipping $8.2 billion in domestic agricultural exports abroad in 2024 (latest data available according to the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture).1
• Top agricultural exports were:

	2024 Value	2024 State Rank
beef and veal	$1.7 billion	1
corn	$1.7 billion	3
soybeans	$1.6 billion	5
feeds and other feed grains	$1.2 billion	3
grain products, processed	$458 million	3

International Investment Creates Jobs in Nebraska

• In 2023 (latest data available), foreign-controlled companies employed 40 thousand workers in Nebraska. Major sources of foreign investment in Nebraska included Japan, the United Kingdom, and Canada.

Nebraska’s Major Metropolitan Areas Benefit from Exporting

• In 2024 (latest data available), the following metropolitan areas in Nebraska recorded goods exports: Omaha ($3.3 billion), Sioux City ($1.5 billion), Lincoln ($1.1 billion), and Grand Island ($853.9 million).