That dollar amount results from a 4.9% advance from $174.8 billion back in 2021.
Year over year, the overall value of exports from California grew by 2.5% compared to $178.8 billion one year earlier during 2023.
California is America’s second-biggest exporter by state behind only oil-rich Texas, but well ahead of New York state, Louisiana and Illinois. The value of California’s exports equals 8.9% of the United States’ overall exported product sales for 2024 ($2.019 trillion). That percentage is down from 8.9% for 2023.
California’s exported products also represent 4.5% of the state’s total economic output or nominal Gross Domestic Product in 2024 ($4.103 trillion). That percentage is a setback from 4.6% one year ago.
The most valuable products shipped from California are civilian aircraft plus aircraft engines or other parts, computer parts or accessories, then modems and similar reception or transmission devices. Combined, those commodities generated 9.7% of California’s total export sales during 2024..
Given California’s population of 39.4 million people, its total $183.3 billion in 2024 exports translates to roughly $4,650 for every resident in “The Golden State”–up from $4,600 per capita in 2023.
California’s unemployment rate was 5.5% at December 2024 up from 5.1% in one year earlier, per YCharts.
California’s Top 10 Exports
The following export products represent the highest dollar value in California global shipments during 2024. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from California.
Figures are shown at the more granular six-digit Harmonized Tariff System code level, for more precise product identification.
- Civilian aircraft including engines, parts: US$6.5 billion (3.5% of Florida’s total exports)
- Computer parts and accessories: $6.1 billion (3.3%)
- Modems, similar reception/transmission devices: $5.3 billion (2.9%)
- Electronic integrated circuits: $3.9 billion (2.1%)
- Refined petroleum oils excluding biodiesel: $3.7 billion (2%)
- Machinery parts, accessories for making semi-conductor devices: $3.6 billion (2%)
- Shelled almonds: $3.5 billion (1.9%)
- Miscellaneous digit processing units: $2.9 billion (1.6%)
- Diagnostic or laboratory reagents: $2.8 billion (1.5%)
- Medical, dental or veterinarian appliances: $2.6 billion (1.4%)
California’s top 10 export product categories represent over one-fifth (22.3%) of the overall value of the state’s global shipments.
Computer parts and accessories represent the fastest grower among California’s top 10 export categories, up by 113.8% from 2023 to 2024.
In second place for improving export sales were miscellaneous digit processing units thanks to a 105.8% acceleration.
Shipments of shelled almonds posted the third-fastest improvement via a 21.1% increase in value compared to 2023.
The decliners among California’s top 10 export products were worked medical, dental or veterinarian appliances (down -9% from 2023), refined petroleum oils excluding biodiesel (down -6.9%) then the capital-intensive civilian aircraft fully built or engines or parts (down -3%).
More Key Facts about California’s Exports
Overall, California incurred a -US$308.1 billion deficit exporting and importing products during 2024. That dollar amount reflects a 13.5% year-over-year expansion from -$271.5 billion in red ink for 2023.
Another way of saying surplus or deficit is positive or negative net exports. In a nutshell, the term “net exports” quantifies the amount by which foreign spending on a state’s goods or services exceeds or lags that same state’s spending on foreign goods or services.
Below are California’s top 10 import products highlighting the state’s highest spending on foreign-made goods in 2021.
- Computer parts and accessories: $25.6 billion (5.2% of California’s total imports)
- Crude petroleum oils: $25.5 billion (5.2%)
- Small portable digital computers: $19.8 billion (4%)
- Mid-sized automobiles (piston engine): $18.1 billion (3.7%)
- Modems, similar reception/transmission devices: $12.5 billion (2.6%)
- Smartphones: $9.7 billion (2%)
- Miscellaneous digit processing units: $9.6 billion (1.9%)
- Lithium ion batteries: $9 billion (1.8%)
- Solid-state semiconductor storage devices: $7.5 billion (1.5%)
- Electric motor only vehicles: $7.3 billion (1.5%)
California has highly negative net exports in the international trade of computer hardware and crude petroleum oils. In turn, these cashflows indicate California’s strong competitive disadvantages under related product categories thus highlighting the strong impact of foreign-made goods on California’s global balance sheet.
California’s Major Trading Partners
The following list shows the top 10 customers that purchased nearly two-thirds (65.9%) worth of the total value of products exported from California during 2024.
- Mexico: $33.5 billion (18.3% of California’s total exports)
- Canada: $18.4 billion (10%)
- mainland China: $15.1 billion (8.2%)
- Japan: $10.9 billion (5.9%)
- Taiwan: $9.6 billion (5.2%)
- South Korea $8.8 billion (4.8%)
- Netherlands $7.3 billion (4%)
- Germany $6.2 billion (3.4%)
- Hong Kong $5.6 billion (3%)
- Malaysia $5.5 billion (3%)
California’s top trade partners in North America, Canada and Mexico, generated well over one-quarter (28.3%) of the overall value of exported goods from the state. That percentage trails the 30.2% for top Asian countries (mainland China, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Malaysia) that are among the leading customers for exports from California.
California Export Companies
Fifty-three of California-headquartered corporations rank among America’s leading companies showcased in the Fortune 500 listing. Selected examples are listed below, sorted by highest revenues.
- Apple Inc. (computer hardware, software)
- McKesson Corporation (pharmaceuticals, medical technology)
- Chevron Corporation (petroleum, natural gas, petrochemicals)
- Wells Fargo (multinational financial services)
- Alphabet Inc (technology, autonomous cars, software)
- Intel Corporation (microprocessors, chips, mobile phones, flash memories)
- Hewlett-Packard (computer hardware, software)
- Cisco Systems (telecom equipment, networking hardware)
- Oracle (servers, workstations, storage devices, middleware)
- Gilead Sciences (pharmaceuticals, biotechnology products)
Shown within brackets for each company is a summary of the international trade-related product categories in which each business deals.
California’s capital city is Sacramento, nicknamed “The City of Trees” and “Sactown”.
See also America’s Top 20 Export States, United States Top 10 Exports and Top United States Trade Balances
Research Sources:
FlagPictures.org, Flags of US States. Accessed on April 5, 2025
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on April 5, 2025
Fortune Finance * California, California’s Economy Is Now Bigger Than All of the UK. Accessed on April 5, 2025
IBIS World, State Economic Profile (including GDP). Accessed on April 5, 2025
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on April 5, 2025
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on April 5, 2025
Los Angeles Times, The new Fortune 500 list is out. These California companies made the cut. Accessed on April 5, 2025
United States Census Bureau, Foreign Trade (State by 6-Digit HS Code). Accessed on April 5, 2025
United States Census Bureau, QuickFacts: California. Accessed on April 5, 2025
USA Trade Online, Official Source of Trade Statistics. Accessed on April 5, 2025
Wikipedia, California. Accessed on April 5, 2025
Wikipedia, Economy of California (GDP). Accessed on April 5, 2025
Wikipedia, List of California Companies. Accessed on April 5, 2025
Wikipedia, List of U.S. states and territories by GDP. Accessed on April 5, 2025
YCharts, Regional and State Employment and Unemployment Report. Accessed on April 5, 2025