Florida: Facts and Figures

Florida is a global business hub because of its location at the commercial crossroads of the Americas, as well as its well-developed port infrastructure, and multilingual workforce. Florida’s attractive business climate helped it export over $55 billion in goods in 2021, which helped support nearly 2.8 million jobs in the state.

Job Creation

  • In Florida, 2,770,200 jobs were supported by international trade in 2019, representing 21.5% of all jobs in the state.1,2
  • In 2020, 54,553 companies exported goods from Florida of which 95% were small- and medium-sized enterprises. In 2018, 366,000 people were employed by affiliates of companies at least 50% foreign-owned.3,4

Exports and Growth

  • Florida exported $55.5 billion in goods to foreign markets in 2021, an 21% increase compared to 2020 driven by continued economic recovery from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global economy.5
    • Brazil ($4.5 billion)
    • Canada ($4.1 billion)
    • Mexico ($3.3 billion)
    • Colombia ($2.3 billion)
    • Dominican Republic ($2.2 billion)
  • Agricultural exports are important to Florida's' economy, totaling $3. 2 billion in 2020, according to the USDA.6
  • Since 2014, the U.S. Export-Import Bank has financed $6 billion in exports from 569 companies in Florida.7
  • Since 1971, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation - which has been modernized into the Development Finance Corporation (DFC) - has invested $2.2 billion in Florida companies for overseas investment.8
  • Since 1992, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency has helped facilitate $574 million in exports from Florida companies.9

Education and Research

  • In 2018-2019, 13,401 Florida students studied abroad.10
  • During 2020, 46,221 international students were enrolled in Florida colleges and universities and contributed $1.5 billion to the Florida economy.10

Global Engagement

  • Since 1961, 8,548 Peace Corps volunteers from Florida have served in dozens of countries overseas.11