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 $68.9 billion in goods in 2023, 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, 57,079 companies exported goods from Florida of which 95% were small- and medium-sized enterprises. In 2018, 358,200 people were employed by affiliates of companies at least 50% foreign-owned.3,4

Exports and Growth

  • Florida exported $68.9 billion in goods to foreign markets in 2023, a 2% increase compared to 2022. Florida’s largest markets were:5
    • Canada ($5.2 billion)
    • Brazil ($5.1 billion)
    • Mexico ($4.3 billion)
    • United Kingdom ($3.2 billion)
    • Dominican Republic ($2.4 billion)
  • Agricultural exports are important to Florida's' economy, totaling $3.5 billion in 2020, according to the USDA.6
  • Since 2014, the U.S. Export-Import Bank has financed $7 billion in exports from 583 companies in Florida.7
  • Since 1992, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency has helped facilitate $574 million in exports from Florida companies.9

Education and Research

  • During 2020, 42,590 international students were enrolled in Florida colleges and universities and contributed $1.4 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