California is one of the world’s largest economies, fueled by trade and exports that support nearly 5.1 million jobs in the state. Last year, California exported $185.6 billion worth of goods, led by the state’s thriving computer and technology manufacturing industry. But it isn’t just big business that benefits - 95% of all California exporters are small and medium sized businesses.

• In California, 5,082,600 jobs were supported by international trade in 2019, representing 20.7% of all jobs in the state.^1,2
• In 2020, 63,416 companies exported goods from California of which 95% were small- and medium-sized enterprises. In 2018, 843,600 people were employed by affiliates of companies at least 50% foreign-owned.^3,4

• California exported $175.1 billion in goods to foreign markets in 2021, a 12% increase compared to 2020 driven by continued economic recovery from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global economy.⁵
  • Mexico ($30.8 billion)
  • Canada ($20.1 billion)
  • China ($18.2 billion)
  • Japan ($11.6 billion)
  • South Korea ($11.6 billion)
• Agricultural exports are important to California's' economy, totaling 24.3 billion in 2020, according to the USDA.⁶
• Since 2014, the U.S. Export-Import Bank has financed $13 billion in exports from 652 companies in California.⁷
• Since 1992, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency has helped facilitate $3 billion in exports from California companies.⁹

• During 2020, 134,043 international students were enrolled in California colleges and universities and contributed $5.4 billion to the California economy.¹⁰

• Since 1961, 31,723 Peace Corps volunteers from California have served in dozens of countries overseas.¹¹

1. https://tradepartnership.com/reports/trade-and-american-jobs-the-impact-of-trade-on-u-s-and-state-level-employment-update-2020/
2. https://www.businessroundtable.org/policy-perspectives/trade-international/benefits-of-trade-data
3. https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/Press-Release/edb/2019/index.html
4. https://www.bea.gov/sites/default/files/2020-11/imne1120.pdf
5. https://www.trade.gov/data-visualization/state-economy-and-trade-factsheets
6. https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/state-fact-sheets.aspx#.U2ERwbQzqX8
7. https://www.exim.gov/customer-map/
8. https://www.opic.gov/sites/default/files/docs/OPIC_local_impact.pdf
9. https://ustda.gov/ustda-success-by-state/
10. https://opendoorsdata.org/fact_sheets/
11. https://www.peacecorps.gov/news/library/peace-corps-announces-top-volunteer-producing-states-2018/