Can You Name the Biggest Exports of Each American State?

The state of Alabama is big on car parts and automotive exports. In 2018 it was worth $2.7 billion to the state. When it comes to agriculture, there isn't much leaving the state, except for some chicken.

Someone has to provide zinc for the world, right? It looks like Alaska fits the bill with $1.2 billion of it. Next in line is fish, and the state exports a heck of a lot of it, including cod, pollock and salmon, among others.

Arizona's big export is aircraft, and in 2018 it was worth $2.5 billion to the state. Next in line after aircraft was copper, which was worth just over $1 billion in total. Further down the list are things like molybdenum and insecticide.

Aircraft is the main export for the state of Arkansas, and it's a pretty significant one worth nearly $1 billion to the state. Next in line after aircraft for Arkansas is $463 million worth of ammunition.

Also known as sodium carbonate, soda ash is Wyoming's chief export. In fact, the state exports a ton of chemicals, including things like argon, bentonite, phosphoric acid and whatever ammonium dihydrogen orthophosphate is.

Computer chips, specifically memory, are the main export for the state of Idaho. Oddly enough, while they do have a number of food products in their exports, including cheese, malt and whey, they don't export that many potatoes.

California has a huge export economy worth over $178 billion in total. At the top of the heap is aircraft, worth $7.2 billion, followed by diamonds worth $5.4 billion and then, a few slots down the list, is almonds worth $3.3 billion.

If you're in the market for a nice, juicy steak, then Colorado can help you out with their beef exports. They also have a pretty respectable pork export industry going on and, if you're not hungry, they export $121 million in molybdenum as well.

Connecticut exported $7 billion worth of aircraft in 2018, making it hands down their biggest export. For a fun twist on the usual, their number-five export at $155 million is lasers. How futuristic!

Medicine is Delaware's chief export, and it's worth $946 million to the state. In an unexpected twist, the state's number-six export is something you'd probably never predict — bananas. That can include dry, though, which is probably the case.

Florida's export industry is pretty diverse, but their number one is aircraft at $6.5 billion, which is pretty impressive. Elsewhere on the list is $645 million worth of perfume and $324 million worth of yachts.

Georgia's big export is aircraft, and it's worth $7.3 billion to the state. If you wander down their list of exports a bit, you'll see the state rakes in an impressive $307 million from carpets as well.

Surprisingly, it's petroleum products that are Hawaii's biggest export, even though it seems like it should be something more exotic. Number five on their list is a little more like what you might expect though — $24 million worth of shrimp and prawns.

Illinois' big export is $3.1 billion in oil. If you're looking for something a little left-of-center, you can go to Illinois' fourth biggest export. At $1.2 billion, the state exports a heck of a lot of dumpers designed for off-highway use.

Indiana's chief export is medicine, about $2.6 billion worth of it. Indiana also exports a heck of a lot of insulin as well which, yes, is medicine, but is listed separately and is worth around $553 million.

Iowa exports $1.4 billion worth of corn, which is just so much corn, isn't it? That's followed up by tractors, soybeans and a lot of pork meat. Then they round things out with some herbicide, because why not?

Kansas exports a lot of aircraft, about $2.2 billion worth of it. Their next biggest export is beef, which comes in a pretty respectable $924 million in total. That's followed up with wheat at around $572 million.

Aircraft is an absolutely huge export for the state of Kentucky and, in fact, it's worth a whopping $12.5 billion, at least in the year 2018. Unique to Kentucky is their number 12 export, which is purebred horses. They're worth $256 million.

Louisiana is oil country, believe it or not. Depending on the year, their main export may also be soybeans, but in 2017 through 2018, the beans had taken a backseat to petroleum products. PVC is their number nine export, incidentally.

Lobster is King in the state of Maine. In fact, it's worth about $386 million to the state, which is a heck of a lot of lobster. Number two is civilian aircraft and aircraft parts which seem to be exported from just about every single state.

Maryland just got into natural gas, exporting as it wasn't even a thing for the state back in 2017. In 2018, however, it went from $0 all the way up to a staggering $1.1 billion, overtaking their previous top export, which was aircraft.

There was a time when gold was the main export from Massachusetts, but it's down to number three. These days it's machinery for making semi-conductors; that's their big export worth about $1.3 billion per year.

It makes sense that Michigan's main export is trucks, right? This is where Detroit is located and where automaking took root in America. The industry is worth billions, and that's just trucks. Factor in cars and assorted auto parts, and it's tens of billions.

Minnesota exports medical supplies and not just any medical supples but needles. Lots and lots of needles. It's a nearly $1 billion industry in the state somehow meaning if you use needles ever, they probably came from Minnesota.

Refined oil is the chief export of Mississippi right now, but their number-two is a weirdly unpredictable one. It's titanium dioxide, which is used as a white food pigment. Down at number four is cotton, if you want to know where to find some.

While Missouri does export things like corn and soybeans, its big export is trucks. After that, it gets into civilian aircraft and motorcycles, so basically, the transportation industry dominates across the state.

Oh, Montana. What is going on over there? The state's chief export is cigarettes, and weirdly enough, it's actually on an upswing rather than down as you'd suppose. They exported more cigarettes in 2018 than in any of the three previous years.

Nebraska is a big beef state and exports over $1 billion per year if you combine the value of both fresh and frozen beef. In third place behind the beef is soybeans, in case you were wondering what else is going on in Nebraska.

It seems oddly poetic that the main export from the state of Nevada is gold. In fact, the state exported nearly $5 billion worth of it in 2018 and over $6 billion in 2017. They also export gaming machines worth over $700 million per year.

New Hampshire is one of many states heavily into the aircraft industry, and aircraft parts are their main export. Medicine is their number two while their third-biggest, worth over $200 million, is printer and copier parts.

For a time, oil was one of the biggest exports from New Jersey, but these days they're making a killing off of palladium. It's one of those rare metals that's used in electronic parts and is extremely valuable. New Jersey's exports are worth over $1 billion.

New Mexico is big in electronics, and computer processors are what they export the most of. Unlike most states, New Mexico has very little in the way of agriculture in its overall exports. They do export a tiny bit of milk, cheese and nuts, however.

The jewelry industry is massive in New York. Their main export is diamond jewelry to the tune of about $13.3 billion in 2018. There's also $5.6 billion in other jewelry, $1.5 billion in gems that aren't diamonds and then, out of left field, over $8 billion worth of art.

Another of the massive aircraft industry states, North Carolina's biggest export is civilian aircraft and related parts. The second biggest export in the state is medicine and vaccines.

North Dakota's chief export comes in the form of crude oil worth about $2.8 billion to the state annually. Their number three export? Front-end loaders, of which they export $255 million worth per year. Nice.

Civilian aircraft are worth over $5 billion per year to the state of Ohio. A distant second is cars, and that's followed up pretty closely by soybeans. Know what number 22 is? Sanitary products like diapers.

Aircraft is the main export for the state of Oklahoma. That's the chief export for a lot of states, but a little further down the list, you'll find things like cotton as well as pork, both fresh and frozen.

Like a number of other states, Oregon is big in electronics, and computer processors are their main export. They also export a lot of wheat as well as tractors and removable insoles for shoes.

Coal is king in the state of Pennsylvania, and in 2018 it was worth $2.8 billion for the state. In second place, however, is vaccines, which were worth a total of $1.2 billion, so there's definitely a contrast in that state.

Scrap iron is the main export for the state of Rhode Island, and it's worth $252 million, so that's a heck of a lot of scrap right there. Nearly all of the top 10 exports from the state are scrap or waste metals and residues of some kind.

The main export for South Carolina is aircraft. In 2018 it was worth $7.9 billion to the state. If you head down their list of exports to #15, you'll find $235 million worth of chicken cuts and edible offal including liver. Yum!

South Dakota exports $104 million worth of brewing waste, or at least it did in 2018. Soy products are another big export for the state, along with ethyl alcohol and pork. So basically, there's a party going on in South Dakota.

Tennessee is big in medical equipment, and in 2018 they exported $2.3 billion worth of it, so that's impressive. Down at 25 on their list for exports is an oddly specific car part — steering wheels: $238 million in steering wheels.

Texas doesn't just export crude oil they export a lot of crude oil. In 2018 they exported over $38 billion worth, plus $28 billion in refined oil. If you thought Texas was cattle country, it may be, but it doesn't even rank in the top 25 of their exports.

Utah is gold country! They exported $6.1 billion in gold back in 2018. The rest of their exports are pretty diverse and include things like computer memory, food, airbags and aircraft. Lots going on in Utah.

Vermont's big export is computer processors, and they put out over $1 billion of them in the year 2018. If the state does export much maple syrup, it doesn't make enough money to rank in the top 25 for the state.

Virginia's main export in 2018 was coal, and was worth $1.1 billion. Computer memory, soybeans, tractors and aircraft round out the top five exports for the whole state. Somewhere further down the list is antibiotics.

The state of Washington makes much of its export money from aircraft. It's not a small amount, either. It's $41.7 billion worth. Their number two export takes a massive drop to $3.7 billion and is corn.

By a wide margin, the biggest export for the state of West Virginia is coal. In 2018 it was worth $4.4 billion in the state. The rest of their exports are a weird range of things, including nickel plates, isoprene rubber, oak wood and artificial joints.

Wisconsin doesn't export cheese as you might think, but it does export aircraft. Much weirder than that is number 11 on their list, which is blood, either human or animal, worth a total of $221 million.