Ohio is reaching out across the world to grow its economy, but its heartland location is what makes it such an attractive place to do business. With its world-class rail line and airport infrastructure, Ohio exported over $50 billion worth of goods and services in 2021. As a result, international trade supports more than 1.4 million good-paying Ohio jobs.

• In Ohio, 1,401,200 jobs were supported by international trade in 2019, representing 19.6% of all jobs in the state.^1,2
• In 2020, 15,534 companies exported goods from Ohio of which 88% were small- and medium-sized enterprises. In 2018, 310,700 people were employed by affiliates of companies at least 50% foreign-owned.^3,4

• Ohio exported $50.4 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
  • Canada ($18.0 billion)
  • Mexico ($6.3 billion)
  • China ($3.8 billion)
  • Brazil ($1.9 billion)
  • Japan ($1.6 billion)
• Agricultural exports are important to Ohio's' economy, totaling $4.1 billion in 2020, according to the USDA.⁶
• Since 2014, the U.S. Export-Import Bank has financed $5 billion in exports from 216 companies in Ohio.⁷
• Since 1971, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation - which has been modernized into the Development Finance Corporation (DFC) - has invested $1.4 billion in Ohio companies for overseas investment.⁸
• Since 1992, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency has helped facilitate $263 million in exports from Ohio companies.⁹

• In 2018-2019, 14,157 Ohio students studied abroad.¹⁰
• During 2020, 35,508 international students were enrolled in Ohio colleges and universities and contributed $1.2 billion to the Ohio economy.¹⁰

• Since 1961, 7,720 Peace Corps volunteers from Ohio 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/