Rhode Island

Rhode Island Exports and Foreign Investment

In 2025, Rhode Island exported a record $4.2 billion of goods to the world. In 2023, exports from Rhode Island supported an estimated 8,000 jobs (latest data available).

Exports from Rhode Island and Jobs

• Rhode Island was the 44th largest state exporter of goods in 2025.
• In 2025, Rhode Island goods exports were $4.2 billion, an increase of 97 percent ($2.1 billion) from its export level in 2015.
• Rhode Island goods exports in 2023 supported an estimated 8,000 jobs (latest data available). Nationally, jobs supported by goods exports pay up to an estimated 18 percent above the national average.

Manufacturing Exports from Rhode Island and Jobs

• In 2025, Rhode Island exported $3.1 billion of manufactured products.
• Rhode Island exports of manufactured products supported an estimated 6,000 jobs in 2023 (latest data available).
• The state's largest manufacturing export category was chemicals, which accounted for $1.5 billion of Rhode Island total goods exports in 2025.
• Other top manufacturing exports were miscellaneous manufactured commodities ($358 million), primary metal manufacturing ($341 million), computer & electronic products ($185 million), and machinery, except electrical ($161 million).

Exports Sustain Thousands of Rhode Island Businesses many of which are SMEs

• A total of 2,020 companies exported from Rhode Island locations in 2023 (latest data available). Of those, 1,770 (88 percent) were small and medium-sized enterprises with fewer than 500 employees.
• Small and medium-sized firms generated 46.7 percent of Rhode Island's total exports of goods in 2023.

Rhode Island's Largest Export Markets

• The state’s largest export market was Ireland. Rhode Island exported $1.1 billion in goods to Ireland in 2025, representing 26 percent of the state’s total goods exports.
• Ireland was followed by Canada ($592 million), Italy ($468 million), Mexico ($228 million), and the Dominican Republic ($200 million).
• Rhode Island goods exports to major world areas included:

• 31 percent of Rhode Island goods exports ($1.3 billion) in 2025 went to current FTA partners.

Rhode Island's Top Agricultural Exports

• Rhode Island was the country’s 49th largest agricultural exporting state, shipping $48 million 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
other plant products	$40 million	49
other livestock products	$5 million	48
other poultry products	$2 million	49
dairy products	$338 thousand	48
beef and veal	$157 thousand	50

International Investment Creates Jobs in Rhode Island

• In 2023 (latest data available), foreign-controlled companies employed an estimated 30 thousand Rhode Island workers. Major sources of foreign investment in Rhode Island included the United Kingdom, France, and Germany.

Rhode Island’s Major Metropolitan Areas Benefit from Exporting

• In 2024 (latest data available), the Rhode Island metropolitan area Providence-Warwick ($9.8 billion) recorded goods exports.