The Most Profitable Industry in Every State

America’s 50 states have unique cultures, landscapes and exports. The top industries in some states export less than $100 million worth of goods annually. In other states, the top export is worth tens of billions of dollars every year. For most Americans, where you live has a lot to do with which U.S. exports dominate your local economy.

Click ahead to see the combined value of these industries’ top-selling products, and take a look at how they are performing in the U.S.

Most Profitable Industry: Automotive

Alabama’s auto sector has taken off in the last 20 years. From next to nothing, it has become the third-largest state for auto manufacturing, fueled by German and Asian carmakers. And it’s growing. With new jobs coming, analysts expect Alabama to move up in state auto manufacturing rankings in coming years.

In 2017, the total value of Alabama’s top 25 traded products was approximately $14.7 billion. Automotive products accounted for nearly $8 billion of that.

Most Profitable Industry: Fishing

Mineral products like zinc, lead and oil bring in a lot of money, but the most profitable industry in Alaska is the fishing industry. It’s the main source of revenue for the state, with Alaska being home to some of the world’s largest fisheries. From frozen fish meat to king crabs, the industry’s top-selling products of 2017 were valued at approximately $2.359 billion.

Most Profitable Industry: Machinery and Mechanical Appliances

Although civilian aircraft, engines and parts were the most valuable individual product in 2017, collectively machinery and mechanical products were worth more: approximately $4.27 billion in the latter industry versus $2.16 billion in the former.

The machinery and mechanical appliances industry is the most profitable in Arizona. Major leaders in the industry such as Intel, Microchip, Freescale Semiconductor, Honeywell, Raytheon, JDA Software and Frito Lay all manufacture in Arizona, according to the Arizona Commerce Authority.

Most Profitable Industry: Aerospace

The aerospace industry in Arkansas is a major moneymaker, having exported over $1.5 billion in civilian aircraft, engines and parts in 2017.

Click through to see the highest-paying jobs in your state.

Most Profitable Industry: Machinery and Mechanical Appliances

California is the one of the world’s largest economies, right behind the U.K. — but it’s not all thanks to Hollywood and the state’s massive wine and agricultural sectors. California’s most profitable industry is machinery and mechanical appliances, with a value of nearly $27 billion in terms of its top-selling products.

Most Profitable Industry: Meat

Colorado’s beef industry, and the Western ranchers and cattlemen who dominate it, has been legendary since the Old West. Though the machinery and mechanical appliances industry rakes in a lot, the meat industry takes the cake with over $1 billion worth of products sold in 2017.

Most Profitable Industry: Aerospace

Connecticut is almost dominated by the aerospace industry. In 2017, the value of the industry’s main products totaled an estimated $5.627 billion.

Most Profitable Industry: Automotive

Known for having no state sales tax and the headquarters of many finance companies, Delaware’s most profitable industry is actually automotive. Taken together, the top products of Delaware’s automotive industry were valued at approximately $858 million.

Most Profitable Industry: Machinery and Mechanical Appliances

Florida’s most profitable industry is in machinery and mechanical appliances, with its top-selling products valued at roughly $7.576 billion in 2017.

Most Profitable Industry: Aerospace

The southern U.S. has become a haven of manufacturing in recent decades, and Georgia is a fine example of this trend. The aerospace industry is easily the state’s most profitable, with its top products valued at an estimated $6.694 billion in exports for 2017.

Most Profitable Industry: Aerospace

You might think the island nation’s most profitable industry is tourism or related. Instead, Hawaii’s most profitable industry is aerospace.

Most Profitable Industry: Machinery and Mechanical Appliances

Agriculture — especially the state’s iconic product, potatoes — is a big player in Idaho. However, agriculture is not the most profitable industry. Instead, Idaho earned the most value from the machinery and mechanical appliances industry, which exported approximately $1.309 billion worth of products in 2017.

Most Profitable Industry: Machinery and Mechanical Appliances

Like other states in America’s “old” Midwest, Illinois is home to a prominent automotive industry. The top-selling products in the industry earned over $4.5 billion last year. However, machinery and mechanical appliances all combined accounted for $5.7 billion, making it the most profitable in Illinois.

Most Profitable Industry: Automotive

Right next to Illinois sits another Midwestern state that makes a killing on cars. The top-earning products in the automotive industry are valued at approximately $7.526 billion.

Most Profitable Industry: Meat

Although corn is Iowa’s top export, the state’s most profitable industry lies in meat. The top products from this industry had earnings valued at roughly $1.324 billion in 2017.

Most Profitable Industry: Aerospace

Like in Iowa, agriculture is a pivotal industry in Kansas. Despite this, the most profitable industry in the state is the aerospace industry. Last year, the aerospace industry boasted an estimated value of $2.565 billion in terms of top products sold.

Most Profitable Industry: Aerospace

Aerospace is the most profitable industry in Kentucky and continues to grow year over year. The value of the industry’s main products totaled about $11.649 billion in 2017, an increase of nearly 8 percent from 2016.

But even with these high numbers, Kentucky is still one of the least fiscally successful states, according to another GOBankingRates study.

Most Profitable Industry: Mineral Products

Louisiana’s biggest cash crop is soybeans, but its most profitable industry overall is in mineral products — namely, oil. Thanks to the mineral-rich Gulf of Mexico, the industry’s top-selling products had exports worth more than $23 billion in 2017.

Most Profitable Industry: Fishing

For seafood lovers, Maine is a shellfish mecca known for the world’s best lobster. And in this case, the state’s stereotypical industry is, in fact, its most profitable industry. Top industry products like salmon, sea urchins and, of course, lobsters brought in a combined value of approximately $431 million.

Most Profitable Industry: Aerospace

Maryland is one of eight states in which the aerospace industry is the most profitable. The industry’s top products had a value of $814 million in terms of exports for 2017.

Most Profitable Industry: Precision Instruments

Precision instruments can be a lucrative enterprise. In Massachusetts, the industry’s top-selling products of 2017 had a value of almost $3.2 billion.

An example of a typical precision instrument is an osmometer, a device often used for medical purposes. According to Precision Systems Inc., a company headquartered in Natick, Mass., a 2430 Multi-OSMETTE Auto-sampling Turntable Osmometer goes for $14,299 a pop.

Most Profitable Industry: Automotive

Michigan is inseparably connected with the American automotive industry, and it is the most profitable industry in the state. The industry’s top commodities — including everything from transmissions to breaks to shock absorbers — had a value of $22.735 billion in exports last year.

Michigan-based auto manufacturing giant Ford Motor Company is also an affordable option for investors.

Most Profitable Industry: Precision Instruments

Minnesota is another state where precision instruments is the most profitable industry. The principal products are needles, catheters and lenses. Combined, the industry’s top-selling products have an estimated value of $2.417 billion.

Most Profitable Industry: Mineral Products

Like its delta neighbor Louisiana, Mississippi’s most profitable industry is mineral products, thanks to plentiful oil in the Gulf of Mexico. The industry’s main products brought in an estimated $3.076 billion in exports last year.

Most Profitable Industry: Automotive

Missouri is becoming one of the largest auto supply chains in the U.S., producing vehicles for the likes of Ford and Chevy, according to the Missouri Department of Economic Development. Vehicle ignitions, trucks and motorcycles are the industry’s top-selling products, with a value of $2.234 billion in 2017.

Most Profitable Industry: Mineral Products

In the upper Midwest, the earth is rich in minerals. In Montana, products like coal, crude oil and their derivatives had a combined value of $256 million in exports last year.

Most Profitable Industry: Meat

The cattle and swine industries are moneymakers in Nebraska. Of the state’s top 25 commodities sold last year, cow and pig meat products accounted for roughly $1.52 billion.

Most Profitable Industry: Accommodation and Food Services

Las Vegas is the capital of casinos, shows and entertainment, and contributes immensely to Nevada’s most profitable industry. According to the Nevada Governor’s Office of Economic Development, this industry had a gross regional product of over $20 billion.

Most Profitable Industry: Machinery and Mechanical Appliances

New Hampshire’s most profitable industry claims a variety of top-selling products, including parts for cellphones, printers, copiers, fiber optic cables and much more. Combined, the industry’s main products brought in $1.685 billion in 2017.

Most Profitable Industry: Precious Metals, Stones, etc.

Several industries, including machinery, minerals and precious metals, are neck-and-neck in profitability, with the latter valued the most. In 2017, the precious metal industry earned roughly $2.624 billion in top-selling products.

Most Profitable Industry: Machinery and Mechanical Appliances

There’s a lot of money to be made in electronic parts and machinery. The top-earning products of New Mexico’s most profitable industry had a value of $1.835 billion in 2017.

Most Profitable Industry: Precious Metals, Stones, etc.

The precious metals and stones industry boasts products valued at over $25 billion in export sales last year. For New York, diamonds in particular are the most profitable.

Most Profitable Industry: Medical

Medical and diagnostic industry was among the most profitable industries in the U.S., according to Sageworks, earning a net profit margin of over 12 percent in 2017. In North Carolina, the top-selling medical products brought in roughly $3.698 billion last year.

Most Profitable Industry: Mineral Products

North Dakota’s oil industry isn’t as crazy as it has been in the recent past, but it still earns enough to make mineral products the most profitable industry. Crude oil alone accounted for $1.814 billion in exports in 2017.

Most Profitable Industry: Automotive

The civilian aerospace industry is a huge player in Ohio. The automotive industry, however, is slightly more profitable. Its leading products had a combined value of almost $6 billion last year.

Most Profitable Industry: Machinery and Mechanical Appliances

With top-selling products like automatic data processing storage units and centrifugal pumps, the machinery and mechanical appliances industry sounds boring — but it earns a lot. In Oklahoma, the industry’s top products brought in over $1.1 billion last year.

Click through to discover how the gun industry impacts your state.

Most Profitable Industry: Machinery and Mechanical Appliances

Like Oklahoma, the machinery and mechanical appliances industry dominates in Oregon. The industry’s leading products brought in a whopping $10.125 billion last year and is poised to remain the most profitable next year.

Most Profitable Industry: Mineral Products

Fossil fuels rake in the most money in Pennsylvania. Mineral products like propane, oil and coal combined for a total of $3.672 billion in trade value in 2017.

Most Profitable Industry: Precious Metals, Stones, etc.

The precious metal and jewelry industry is the most lucrative in Rhode Island. Products like precious metal waste and scrap accounted for $155 million on its own in 2017, while the industry overall hauled in nearly $670 million.

Most Profitable Industry: Automotive

Aerospace is huge in South Carolina, with civil aircraft products earning $6.275 billion in exports last year. But it takes second place to the automotive industry, whose top-selling products combined are worth an estimated $10.107 billion.

Most Profitable Industry: Meat

Whether it’s beef or pork, frozen or fresh, meat is the most profitable industry in South Dakota. According to the South Dakota Department of Agriculture, South Dakota has about five beef cattle per every state resident.

Most Profitable Industry: Precision Instruments

Tennessee has several very profitable industries, namely in automotive, machinery and mechanical appliances, and precision instruments, the last of which is the most valuable. The principal driver of this industry’s profit is medical products.

Most Profitable Industry: Mineral Products

An abundant supply of oil makes mineral products the most profitable industry in Texas. In 2017 alone, this industry earned over $73 billion from its top-selling products.

Most Profitable Industry: Precious Metals, Stones, etc.

Tourism is big in Utah, but it doesn’t compare to the profits made in the precious metal industry. In 2017, this industry’s top products brought in an estimated $3.714 billion.

Most Profitable Industry: Machinery and Mechanical Appliances

Vermont’s most profitable industry is built upon electronics. The industry’s most valuable products consist of integrated circuits, conductors, processors, etc. Last year, they accounted for over $1.6 billion in exports.

Most Profitable Industry: Machinery and Mechanical Appliances

Soybeans and coal are major exports in Virginia. But the top-earning products lay in the machinery and mechanical appliances industry, which boasts almost $1.5 billion in value.

Most Profitable Industry: Aerospace

There’s no debate about the most profitable industry in Washington: it’s aerospace. The industry’s top products earned roughly $42.163 billion in exports in 2017, a drop actually from the previous year’s $46.465 billion.

Most Profitable Industry: Mineral Products

West Virginia is rich in coal, which helps make minerals the most profitable industry in the state. Coal exports alone brought in $3.261 billion last year.

More good news for West Virginians: The state had the most improved economy of all U.S. states in 2017.

Most Profitable Industry: Machinery and Mechanical Appliances

With medical and diagnostic laboratories ranking among the most profitable industries in the country, it’s natural that precision instruments related to this field would be lucrative as well. Of Wisconsin’s top 25 commodities, the precision instruments industry accounted for around $1.538 billion in 2017.

Most Profitable Industry: Chemicals and Allied Industries

The chemical industry is Wyoming’s most profitable. Specifically, inorganic chemical products are the most lucrative, bringing in roughly $951 million last year in trade. This industry is part of the state’s broader manufacturing industry, which contributes $1.25 billion to the economy.

The oil wealth of Texas makes mineral products the most profitable industry outright in the study. Meanwhile, South Dakota’s meat industry accounted for the lowest value among all 50 U.S. states at $223 million.

Methodology: GOBankingRates determined the most profitable industry based on the value of industry products, in millions of U.S. dollars, sourced from U.S. Census Bureau 2017 data; industries were defined using Harmonized System (HS) codes.