In 2023, the U.S. exported $2,019 billion worth of goods and services to the rest of the world. Just over 22% of this, or $445 billion, was exported from Texas alone. This makes Texas by far the largest exporting state. California was a distant second, at 8% of U.S. exports.
Not only is Texas the largest exporter among the U.S. states, but exports from Texas have been growing faster than for the U.S. as a whole. From 2006 to 2023, exports from Texas increased 195% in nominal terms. Exports from the rest of the U.S. increased by 80% over the same period. Figure 1 graphs the value of Texas exports and the value of U.S. exports other than those from Texas for the years 2006 to 2023. Texas exports rose from $228 billion to $445 billion, while exports from all other states rose from $874 billion to $1,574 billion.
Figure 1: Export Values for Texas and All Other States from 2006 to 2023
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, USA Trade Online
Texas exports are large in absolute number, but also represent a large share of the Gross Domestic Product (or GDP) of the state. Exports were 23% of Texas GDP in 2023, whereas exports were 11% of U.S. GDP. Among the individual states, only Louisiana had a higher ratio of exports to GDP at 43% of state GDP.
Figure 2 graphs the top ten exporting states in terms of the export value of traded goods and services in 2023. The figure also shows the proportion of exports to GDP for these same ten states.
Figure 2: Export and Proportion of Export to GDP
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, USA Trade Online
Top Exports from Texas: What Items Does Texas Ship to Other Countries?
Texas exports a vast array of products to countries all over the world. In 2023, the top five export industries with the highest dollar volume of exportable commodities from Texas were Oil and Gas, Petroleum and Coal Products, Chemicals, Computer and Electronic Products, and Transportation Equipment. These five industry groups represent 78% of the total export value of goods moving out of Texas to other countries. While Oil and Gas exports were the largest among these top five industries, the other four industries all are part of the manufacturing sector.
Figure 3 lists the top five export industries with their export values in 2023. Of the total export value of goods and services moving out of Texas, 65% is from the manufacturing industry. In this group, Petroleum and Coal Products tops the list with $70.02B dollars. This represents 59% of the total petroleum and coal products shipped out of the US. It also represents 15% of total exports by Texas. The other three biggest manufacturing sectors in the top five export industries from Texas – Chemicals Industry, Computer and Electronic Product Industry, and the Transportation Equipment Industry – represent 13%, 12%, and 6%, respectively.
Figure 3: Top 5 Exports of Texas in 2023
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, USA Trade Online
Figure 4 shows the value of exports from these top five Texas exporting industries from 2006 to 2023. The nominal value of Oil and Gas exports increased by an astounding 11,865% from 2006 to 2023, and that industry is now the largest single source of Texas export value. This large increase in the export value of the Oil and Gas Industry is prominent from the year 2016 and is a result of the repeal of the export ban on crude oil exports in December 2015 by the Obama Administration. This action allowed the domestic shale crude oil producers (mainly from the Permian and Eagle Ford basins) to sell their excess production of light crude oil in the global market (Source: GAO report). This led to the increase in the export value of Oil and Gas by 908% in Texas and by 1,616% in Louisiana, between 2016 to 2023. Over this same time frame, exports of Oil and Gas from the remaining 48 states experienced a 60% increase.
Figure 4: Export Values for the Top 5 Export Industries from Texas 2006-2023
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, USA Trade Online
Other industries experienced growth but to a lesser extent. From 2006 to 2023, nominal export values from the Petroleum and Coal Products industry increased by 445%, followed by an increase of 103% for the Chemicals industry. Export values from Transportation Equipment increased 80%, and those from Computer and Electronic Products increased 50%.
If we just compare 2022 with 2023, export values increased by 4% for Transportation Equipment, but fell for the remaining four. The export value of Oil and Gas, Petroleum, Chemicals, and Computer & Electronic Products decreased by 13%, 16%, 8% and 5%, respectively.
Oil and Gas Exports
Texas constitutes 75% of the Oil and Gas exports from the U.S. to the world. (Recall that Oil and Gas represents 31% of the total export value shipped out of Texas). Louisiana exports of Oil and Gas represents 18% of the U.S. total, so that these two states are 93% of all U.S. Oil and Gas exports. The rest of the US contributes the remaining 7%. Figure 5 graphs the trend of Texas, Louisiana and the rest of U.S. Oil and Gas exports to the world from 2006 to 2023.
Figure 5: Trend of the Export Value of the Oil and Gas Industry by Texas, Louisiana and Rest of US, 2006-2023
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, USA Trade Online
Just as in Texas, Louisiana also saw unprecedented growth in the dollar value of exports of the Oil and Gas Industry from 2006 to 2023, especially after 2015. The dollar value of exports of the Louisiana Oil and Gas industry increased by 92,125% in nominal terms from 2006 to 2023, whereas the remaining 48 states saw an increase of 261% over this period.
Petroleum and Coal Products Export
The Petroleum and Coal products industry constitute the refineries which process crude oil into a variety mix of products ranging from gasoline to distillate. Texas exports 57.6% of the U.S. total Petroleum and Coal Products to the world. Louisiana follows with 18.8%, followed by California at 5.1%, Mississippi at 3.7%, North Dakota and Washington at 2.5% each, and the rest of the U.S. contributes 10%. Figure 6 reports the locations of refineries across the U.S. Note the large concentration of refineries along the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana.
Figure 6: Location of Refineries Across US
Source: US Energy Atlas, generated by PERC
Figure 7 graphs the top five states with the highest export value for the Petroleum and Coal Products industry from 2006 to 2023. These export values trend upward but show a large degree of volatility over time. With the increase in domestic oil production (thanks to the shale boom) in 2009, and the reduction in demand for motor fuels, U.S. refineries started exporting more of their production to meet the demand for fuel oils on the world market, which largely continued up to 2014. The drop in petroleum export values in 2016 was largely due to a fall in crude oil prices. The COVID pandemic in 2020 led to a reduction in demand, followed by a sharp increase due to high demand of gasoline from European Union countries after the start of Russia's war with Ukraine.
Figure 7: Top 5 States With The Largest Export Value for Petroleum Product Industry, 2006-2023
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, USA Trade Online.
Major Trading Partners of Texas
Texas exports are shipped all over the world. The small or large circles on the map in Figure 8 represent destinations for Texas exports. As of 2023, Texas’ five destinations for its exports were Mexico, Canada, The Netherlands, China and South Korea (see Figure 8). More than one-third of Texas exports went to North America, and the lion’s share of that went to Mexico at 29.1%, or $129.5 billion of all Texas’ exports. Texas’ second largest trading partner was Canada at $35.8 billion, followed by The Netherlands at $26.5 billion, China at $26.4 billion, and South Korea at $21 billion. North America, Europe, and Asia were big destinations for Texas products, but South America also had a significant share of Texas shipments at 12%. In fact, Texas products were shipped to every continent save Antarctica, and it might well be that some ended up there as well.
Figure 8: Top Trading Partners of Texas
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, USA Trade Online, map created by PERC
Texas is an exporting powerhouse among U.S. states, with a commanding presence in Oil and Gas, but also in a host of manufacturing industries including Petroleum and Coal Products.
Texas is the leading export state in the country for the past 21 years. About 10.6% of the Texas GDP is contributed by state energy exports. The Lone Star state exported 68% of U.S. energy exports to the world in 2023 and, along with Louisiana, exported a large proportion of its Oil and Gas Industry and Petroleum Industry products worldwide.