Manufacturing Export Concentration by State: 2024 Rankings

What the State Export Numbers Show

The map of US manufacturing exports is concentrated, but it isn't a one-region story. Texas leads because its export base spans petroleum and coal products, chemicals, computers and electronics, machinery, and transportation equipment. California follows with a mix that includes computers, semiconductors, medical products, aerospace, chemicals, and food manufacturing. The Midwest remains a factory export engine. Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and Wisconsin all rank in the upper half of the table.

The top 10 states shipped $718.5B in manufactured commodities, equal to 54.8% of the US total. That concentration matters to ports, freight carriers, suppliers, and industrial sales teams. A disruption in one large export state can touch many downstream markets. It also means a focused regional go-to-market plan can cover a meaningful share of export-active manufacturers.

Scale isn't the only useful signal. Manufacturing represented more than four-fifths of reported goods exports in Indiana, South Carolina, Massachusetts, Ohio, Connecticut, Wisconsin, and Utah, based on the manufactured value divided by total goods exports in the same Census table. Louisiana and Alaska show the opposite pattern because non-manufactured commodities contribute a large share of their exports. New Mexico's total also includes a high reexport value.

The 10 Largest Manufacturing Export States

1. Texas

Texas exported $223.7B in manufactured goods, or 17.1% of the US total. Its scale comes from several industrial clusters rather than one narrow specialty. Gulf Coast chemical and petroleum production, the Austin electronics corridor, machinery suppliers, and vehicle plants all feed the state's export base. Texas also shipped $450.3B in total goods, which shows how energy and other non-manufactured exports add to its trade footprint.

2. California

California recorded $114.6B in manufactured exports. Its industrial export base is unusually varied, covering electronics, aerospace, medical technology, instruments, chemicals, processed food, and machinery. The state also reported $48.5B in reexports. That difference matters when someone cites total state exports as a measure of factory output. Reexports are foreign goods that leave the United States again without a substantial domestic transformation.

3. Illinois

Illinois shipped $60.0B in manufactured commodities, equal to 4.6% of the national figure. Machinery, chemicals, food products, electrical equipment, and fabricated metal give the state a balanced industrial profile. Chicago's freight network also connects Illinois plants to rail, truck, air, and Great Lakes routes.

4. Michigan

Michigan's $54.6B manufactured export total reflects its automotive supply chain. The state has assembly plants, engine and transmission operations, tooling companies, automation integrators, and thousands of component suppliers. Manufactured products accounted for 84.9% of Michigan's reported goods exports.

5. Ohio

Ohio exported $47.9B in manufactured goods. Transportation equipment is important, but Ohio's base also includes chemicals, machinery, fabricated metals, polymers, and food products. Manufacturing made up 83.2% of the state's total goods exports.

6 through 10

Indiana ranked sixth with $47.3B. Florida followed at $47.1B, New York at $44.9B, Louisiana at $39.8B, and Pennsylvania at $38.6B. These five states illustrate why a state total needs context. Indiana's figure is closely tied to factory output. Florida and New York include major logistics and reexport activity. Louisiana combines chemical and petroleum manufacturing with a very large non-manufactured commodity trade. Pennsylvania draws from chemicals, machinery, food, metals, and transportation equipment.

Regional Manufacturing Export Patterns

Great Lakes and Midwest

The Great Lakes manufacturing belt remains central to US exports. Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Minnesota together shipped $254.0B in manufactured goods. The region's strength comes from dense supplier networks. A gearbox, stamped housing, sensor, cutting tool, or industrial coating can cross several state lines before it becomes part of an exported machine or vehicle. This makes the state of origin of movement useful for logistics analysis, but less useful as a perfect measure of where every dollar of value was created.

Southeast

Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Mississippi combined for $189.8B in manufactured exports. Automotive and aerospace investment has reshaped the region, while chemicals, appliances, electrical equipment, machinery, textiles, food, and paper remain important. South Carolina stands out because manufactured commodities made up 90.9% of its goods exports.

Northeast

The Northeast combines mature industrial capacity with high-value products. New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Connecticut exported $161.4B in manufactured commodities. Pharmaceuticals, medical devices, aerospace, instruments, chemicals, machinery, and specialty materials lift dollar value even where factory employment is smaller than it was several decades ago.

West

California dominates the West in absolute terms, but Washington, Oregon, Arizona, and Utah each have a distinct export identity. Washington shipped $35.6B in manufactured goods, Oregon $26.4B, Arizona $17.3B, and Utah $16.2B. Aerospace and electronics are recurring themes, joined by medical products, food, machinery, and chemicals.

How to Use This Data

For industrial sales planning

Export value can help prioritize territories, but it shouldn't be the only filter. A high-value state may be dominated by a few large corporations with long supplier qualification cycles. A smaller state may contain a tight cluster of contract manufacturers that buys exactly what you sell. Start with the ranking, then layer in NAICS subsector, establishment count, employment, plant size, and buyer fit. The Census State Exports NAICS database lets researchers move from a state total into four-digit product categories and destination countries.

For site selection and economic development

A high manufacturing export share can signal an industrial base connected to global demand. It can also signal exposure to currency moves, foreign recessions, tariffs, port delays, and trade policy. Compare export data with workforce, electricity, freight access, supplier density, and capital investment before making a site decision. Export value measures shipments, not profitability, plant productivity, or the cost of doing business.

For supply chain benchmarking

State export data can show where production clusters are likely to pull on the same suppliers and freight lanes. That is useful when checking regional capacity risk. If several major exporters depend on one port, rail corridor, specialized material, or certification pool, a disruption can spread quickly. Pair this table with product-level and port-level data before drawing operational conclusions.

What Drives State Manufacturing Exports?

The states rely most on exports when local industry makes more than the domestic market can absorb, or when a plant serves a global production network. Vehicle plants near Canada and Mexico are clear examples. An engine block cast in one state can be machined in another, assembled into a vehicle across a border, and later return as part of a finished product. That is why exports and imports often rise together inside advanced manufacturing supply chains.

A top exporting state usually has several advantages working at once. Large plants provide volume. Specialized suppliers provide tooling, maintenance, packaging, testing, and components. Ports, border crossings, rail ramps, and cargo airports keep freight moving. Universities and technical schools support the labor pool. State and local agencies may add export assistance, financing contacts, or foreign market programs. No single ingredient guarantees sales abroad, but gaps in logistics or supplier depth make export growth harder.

Industry mix

Industry mix explains much of the ranking. Transportation equipment creates large shipment values in Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Alabama, South Carolina, and Washington. Chemicals and petroleum products lift Texas, Louisiana, Illinois, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Computers and electronic products support California, Texas, Oregon, Arizona, and New Mexico. Machinery and fabricated metal products are spread across the Midwest and parts of the Northeast.

Oil and gas can make a state's total goods exports look much larger than its factory exports. Texas and Louisiana both have major manufacturing sectors, but they also ship substantial non-manufactured commodities. Alaska and Wyoming show the distinction even more clearly. This page keeps the manufacturing column separate so the ranking does not confuse raw commodity shipments with factory production.

Market access

Geography shapes destination markets. Northern plants can serve Canada by truck and rail. Southern and border-state factories have direct lanes into Mexico. West Coast manufacturers connect to China and other Asian economies, while East Coast and Gulf ports serve Europe, Latin America, and global routes. Distance still matters for heavy, bulky, or time-sensitive products even when the sales contract is negotiated online.

Trade agreements, tariff schedules, product standards, and currency movements can change the commercial math. A favorable tariff does not help if a supplier cannot meet documentation rules. A weaker dollar can improve price competitiveness, but imported inputs may become more expensive. Export statistics record the shipment after these decisions have been made. They do not show the quotes that were lost, delayed, or redirected.

Factory capacity and investment

New plants can move a state's ranking quickly when their products carry a high dollar value. Semiconductor fabs, battery plants, aircraft programs, pharmaceutical facilities, and vehicle assembly operations can each change regional trade flows. The effect may take years to appear because permitting, construction, qualification, and production ramps happen in stages. Projects announced in 2024 or 2025 should not be treated as completed export capacity until shipments begin.

Manufacturing Exports, State GDP, and Economic Impact

Export value and GDP answer different questions. State GDP measures value added inside the state, while export data measure the value of goods crossing the border. An exported machine may contain steel, electronics, and subassemblies purchased from other states or countries. Its full customs value appears in exports, but state GDP counts only the value created by labor and capital in that state's economy.

For that reason, dividing exports by state GDP can be useful as an exposure indicator, but it is not a manufacturing productivity rate. A high ratio may show strong access to foreign demand. It can also reflect a small state economy, a concentrated product category, or shipments routed through a logistics hub. Analysts should compare several years and review the underlying sector before calling one state more competitive than another.

Exports support work beyond the production line. Freight companies, customs brokers, testing labs, packaging firms, industrial distributors, software providers, and professional services all participate in export orders. The local impact depends on how much of the supply chain sits nearby. A high-value product assembled mostly from imported content creates a different regional footprint from one built through a dense local supplier base.

The cleanest comparison pairs this report with Bureau of Economic Analysis GDP data, Census manufacturing shipments, and Bureau of Labor Statistics employment. Those sources measure different parts of the same economy. Used together, the statistics can distinguish a large exporting gateway from a state with deep factory employment, high manufacturing value added, and strong overseas sales.

Questions the Ranking Can and Cannot Answer

Can it identify the top manufacturing market for a supplier?

It gives a useful first cut. A controls integrator, machine shop, industrial software company, or testing provider can use the ranking to identify large manufacturing export markets. The next step is to filter by the sectors that buy the product. A supplier focused on aerospace will see a different map than one selling food processing equipment or injection molding services.

Can it measure manufacturing competitiveness?

Only partly. Foreign buyers will not keep ordering if price, quality, delivery, and service are weak, so sustained exports are a real market signal. Still, the total is affected by product prices, plant scale, exchange rates, and commodity cycles. Competitiveness also includes productivity, innovation, workforce, infrastructure, and the ability to win new programs.

Can it predict next year's state rankings?

No. Aircraft delivery schedules, vehicle launches, refinery maintenance, semiconductor cycles, strikes, weather, tariffs, and exchange rates can change annual totals. Monthly data can show direction, but early-year comparisons are noisy. A fair year-over-year review should compare the same months and check whether one unusually large shipment moved the result.

Can it show where each product was made?

Not with certainty. Origin of movement is the best consistent state measure available in public trade data, but it tracks the export journey rather than every production step. Use company locations, establishment data, procurement records, and product-level research when the exact manufacturing site matters.

Reading the Numbers Behind Trade

The billion-dollar totals get attention, but the structure underneath them is more useful. Start by asking whether a state's largest export categories come from one sector or several. A state dependent on one aircraft program, vehicle platform, refinery complex, or pharmaceutical product can post an excellent year and still carry more concentration risk than a state with a broad base of machinery, chemicals, electronics, metals, and food products.

Next, look at the trend rather than one annual point. Goods exports in 2023 provide a logical baseline for the 2024 table, but comparisons should use the same Census product definitions and geography. Product prices can change the dollar value even when physical volume is flat. A shift from domestic production to reexports can raise total trade without producing the same factory activity.

Destination mix matters too. Canada and Mexico buy deeply into US industrial supply chains, while China, Europe, and other markets have different product demand, freight costs, standards, and policy risks. The Office of the United States Trade Representative publishes state trade profiles, and the International Trade Administration publishes market tools. The National Association of Manufacturers also tracks policy issues that affect exporters. Those resources add context to the Census source of record.

Local knowledge helps explain results that look odd in a spreadsheet. Houston's port and industrial complex shape the Texas total. Detroit's vehicle network shapes Michigan. Seattle-area aerospace influences Washington, while pharmaceutical and medical manufacturing contribute heavily in several Northeast states. Important exports can come from a handful of plants, so a statewide sales campaign still needs account-level research.

Finally, do not treat exports as gross domestic product. A finished product's export value includes purchased inputs, while GDP measures domestic product value added. The two series can move together, but they are not interchangeable. When a ranking will influence investment, hiring, or territory design, verify the latest monthly release and review the relevant NAICS categories before acting.

Company examples make the geography easier to picture. Toyota operates vehicle and powertrain facilities across several states, while GE Aviation has a wide production and supplier footprint. These companies do not explain an entire state total, but their networks show how one export program can support factories far beyond a headquarters metropolitan area. Shipping routes then connect those plants to customers and sister facilities overseas.

Texas is a major exporter of both factory output and non-manufactured commodities. Agricultural products matter in many other states as well, but they sit outside the manufactured commodity column unless processing changes their product classification. Researchers covering global business or the latest trends should preserve that distinction. It keeps a story about manufacturing from quietly becoming a story about all merchandise trade.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which state exports the most manufactured goods?

Texas ranked first in 2024 with $223.7B in manufactured commodity exports. California ranked second with $114.6B.

How much did the United States export in manufactured goods?

The Census Bureau reported $1310.0B in manufactured commodity exports for 2024. Total US goods exports were $2065.2B.

Are reexports counted as manufacturing exports?

No. The source table reports manufactured commodities, non-manufactured commodities, and reexports separately. This ranking uses only the manufactured commodity column.

Does state of export mean state of manufacture?

Not always. Census uses origin of movement, which identifies where the shipment began its final movement toward export. It can differ from the factory location, especially when goods move through warehouses or consolidation points.