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 $178.7 billion worth of goods, led by the state’s thriving computer and technology manufacturing industry. But it isn’t just big business that benefits - more than 9 in 10 of all California exporters are small and medium sized businesses.

• In California, 5,082,600 jobs were supported by trade, representing 20.7% of all jobs in the state.^1,2
• In 2022, 63,860 companies exported goods from California of which 95% were small- and medium-sized enterprises. In 2021, 816,400 people were employed by affiliates of companies at least 50% foreign-owned.^3,4

• California exported $178.7 billion in goods to foreign markets in 2023. California’s largest markets were:⁵
  • Mexico ($33.3 billion)
  • Canada ($19.1 billion)
  • China ($16.9 billion)
  • Japan ($10.6 billion)
  • South Korea ($9.4 billion)
• Agricultural exports are important to California's economy, totaling $24.7 billion in 2022, according to the USDA.⁶
• Since 2014, the U.S. Export-Import Bank has financed $14 billion in exports from 658 companies in California.⁷
• The Millennium Challenge Corporation has provided $81 million in funding to California organizations since the agency's inception in 2004.⁸
• Since 1992, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency has helped facilitate $3 billion in exports from California companies.⁹

• From 2022-2023, 138,393 international students were enrolled in California colleges and universities and contributed $6 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://s3.amazonaws.com/brt.org/Business-Roundtable_TradeandAmericanJobs2022.pdf
2. https://www.businessroundtable.org/policy-perspectives/trade-international/benefits-of-trade-data
3. https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/Press-Release/edb/edbrel2021.pdf
4. https://www.bea.gov/sites/default/files/2023-08/imne0823_0.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.mcc.gov/work-with-us/mcc-business/vehicles/
9. https://ustda.gov/ustda-success-by-state/
10. https://www.nafsa.org/policy-and-advocacy/policy-resources/nafsa-international-student-economic-value-tool-v2
11. https://www.peacecorps.gov/stories/peace-corps-announces-top-2023-volunteer-producing-states/