Wisconsin

Wisconsin Exports and Foreign Investment

In 2024, Wisconsin exported $27.5 billion of goods to the world. In 2022, exports from Wisconsin supported an estimated 111 thousand jobs (latest data available).

Exports from Wisconsin and Jobs

• Wisconsin was the 21st largest state exporter of goods in 2024.
• In 2024, Wisconsin goods exports were $27.5 billion, an increase of 17 percent ($4.1 billion) from its export level in 2014.
• Goods exports accounted for 6.4 percent of Wisconsin GDP in 2024.
• Wisconsin goods exports in 2022 supported an estimated 111 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 Wisconsin and Jobs

• In 2024, Wisconsin exported $26.3 billion of manufactured products.
• Wisconsin exports of manufactured products supported an estimated 98 thousand jobs in 2022 (latest data available).
• The state's largest manufacturing export category is machinery, except electrical, which accounted for $5.6 billion of Wisconsin's total goods exports in 2024.
• Other top manufacturing exports are computer & electronic products ($4.2 billion), transportation equipment ($3.0 billion), chemicals ($2.6 billion), and food & kindred products ($2.5 billion).

Exports Sustain Thousands of Wisconsin Businesses many of which are SMEs

• A total of 8,734 companies exported from Wisconsin locations in 2022 (latest data available). Of those, 7,478 (86 percent) were small and medium sized enterprises with fewer than 500 employees.
• Small and medium-sized firms generated 27.2 percent of Wisconsin's total exports of goods in 2022.

Wisconsin Depends on World Markets

• The state’s largest market was Canada. Wisconsin exported $7.9 billion in goods to Canada in 2024, representing 29 percent of the state’s total goods exports.
• Canada was followed by Mexico ($4.4 billion), China ($1.6 billion), Germany ($1.1 billion), and Australia ($807 million).
• Wisconsin’s exports to major world areas included:

• 57 percent of Wisconsin’s goods exports ($15.7 billion) in 2024 went to current FTA partners.  

Agriculture in Wisconsin depends on Exports

• Wisconsin is the country’s 15th largest agricultural exporting state, shipping $4.0 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
dairy products	$1.1 billion	2
soybeans	$731 million	13
corn	$410 million	10
feeds and other feed grains	$315 million	11
beef and veal	$285 million	10

International Investment Creates Jobs in Wisconsin

• In 2022 (latest data available), foreign-controlled companies employed 135,900 Wisconsin workers. Major sources of foreign investment in Wisconsin included Canada, the United Kingdom and Germany.
• Foreign investment in Wisconsin was responsible for 5.3 percent of the state's total private-industry employment in 2022.

Wisconsin’s Major Metropolitan Areas Benefit from Exporting

In 2023 (latest data available), the following metropolitan areas in Wisconsin recorded goods exports: Duluth ($1.4 billion), Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington ($22.2 billion), Appleton ($1.5 billion), Eau Claire ($926 million), Fond du Lac ($923.6 million), Green Bay ($835.1 million), Janesville-Beloit ($1.1 billion), Kenosha ($994.3 million), La Crosse-Onalaska ($407.6 million), Madison ($2.8 billion), Milwaukee-Waukesha ($9.4 billion), Oshkosh-Neenah ($1.3 billion), Racine-Mount Pleasant ($3.6 billion), Sheboygan ($1 billion), and Wausau ($316.7 million).