In 2023, exports of goods and services from the United States made up about eleven percent of its gross domestic product (GDP). This is an increase from 9.25 percent of GDP of the United States in 1990. U.S. exports The GDP of the United States is the largest in the world, clocking in at more than 20 trillion U.S. dollars in 2022. It is additionally one of the world's largest exporters, second only to China. United States exports surpassed three trillion dollars in 2022, its highest level ever. Balance of trade The balance of trade in the United States has been a longstanding topic of conversation among economists, business interests, and politicians. When a country imports more than it exports, this is known as a trade deficit. While large export industries have been present in the United States for many years, the U.S. trade deficit has been increasing and is the largest volume of any nation.

In 2023, the United States had a real gross domestic product of about 22 trillion U.S. dollars (2017 chained). See the U.S. GDP for further information. Real Gross Domestic Product is an inflation-adjusted measure that reflects the value of all goods and services produced in a given year, expressed in base-year prices.

Real GDP in the U.S.

The real GDP of the U.S. has increased from 9.37 trillion U.S. dollars (2012 chained) in 1990 to 22 trillion U.S. dollars in 2023. Like many of the worlds major economies, the United States has experienced a steady growth in GDP over the last few years. The Indian economy was expected to experienced growth of 9.4 percent between 2020 and 2021, while China’s GDP was expected to grow 8.1 percent in the same period. One of the defining qualities of the United States’ economy is its diversity and advanced technological advancements. Industries such as finance, real estate, health care, and business and education services are large contributors to the economy, while the manufacturing sector accounts for about 11 percent of the country’s wealth.

The GDP generated by each state can also vary widely based on principal industries and production. In 2021, California had the highest state GDP in the United States, reaching 3.35 trillion U.S. dollars; comparatively, Vermont generated a GDP of 36.17 billion U.S. dollars in that year.

The gross domestic product (GDP) of California was about 3.23 trillion U.S. dollars in 2023, meaning that it contributed the most out of any state to the country’s GDP in that year. In contrast, Vermont had the lowest GDP in the United States, with 35.07 billion U.S. dollars. What is GDP? Gross domestic product, or GDP, is the total monetary value of all goods and services produced by an economy within a certain time period. GDP is used by economists to determine the economic health of an area, as well as to determine the size of the economy. GDP can be determined for countries, states and provinces, and metropolitan areas. While GDP is a good measure of the absolute size of a country's economy and economic activity, it does account for many other factors, making it a poor indicator for measuring the cost or standard of living in a country, or for making cross-country comparisons. GDP of the United States The United States has the largest gross domestic product in the world as of 2023, with China, Japan, Germany, and India rounding out the top five. The GDP of the United States has almost quadrupled since 1990, when it was about 5.9 trillion U.S. dollars, to about 25.46 trillion U.S. dollars in 2022.

Graph and download economic data for Value Added by Industry: Manufacturing as a Percentage of GDP (VAPGDPMA) from Q1 2005 to Q1 2025 about value added, private industries, percent, private, manufacturing, industry, GDP, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for All Employees, Manufacturing (MANEMP) from Jan 1939 to Jun 2025 about headline figure, establishment survey, manufacturing, employment, and USA.

As of the first quarter of 2025, the GDP of the U.S. fell by 0.5 percent from the fourth quarter of 2024. GDP, or gross domestic product, is effectively a count of the total goods and services produced in a country over a certain period of time. It is calculated by first adding together a country’s total consumer spending, government spending, investments and exports; and then deducting the country’s imports. The values in this statistic are the change in ‘constant price’ or ‘real’ GDP, which means this basic calculation is also adjusted to factor in the regular price changes measured by the U.S. inflation rate. Because of this adjustment, U.S. real annual GDP will differ from the U.S. 'nominal' annual GDP for all years except the baseline from which inflation is calculated. What is annualized GDP? The important thing to note about the growth rates in this statistic is that the values are annualized, meaning the U.S. economy has not actually contracted or grown by the percentage shown. For example, the fall of 29.9 percent in the second quarter of 2020 did not mean GDP is suddenly one third less than a year before. In fact, it means that if the decline seen during that quarter continued at the same rate for a full year, then GDP would decline by this amount. Annualized values can therefore exaggerate the effect of short-term economic shocks, as they only look at economic output during a limited period. This effect can be seen by comparing annualized quarterly growth rates with the annual GDP growth rates for each calendar year.

In 2024, the total value of U.S. trade goods amounted to approximately 5.4 trillion U.S. dollars. This shows the significance and scale of international trade for the economy of the United States. In 2024, the United States imported goods valuing around 3.3 trillion U.S. dollars from international trading partners, in comparison the value of goods exported from the United States to other countries amounted to around 2.1 trillion U.S. dollars.Import and export trade The import of trade goods relate to goods brought into the United States. This typically refers to goods grown, produced, or manufactured in other countries. Imports include goods of domestic origin which have been worked on abroad before reentering the United States. The export of trade goods refer to goods sold internationally which were grown, produced, or manufactured in the United States. It also includes commodities of foreign origin which have been changed in the United States from the form in which they were imported, or which have been enhanced in value or condition by further processing or manufacturing within the United States before again being sold internationally. Leading trade partners of the United States In 2023, Mexico was the largest source of goods imported into the United States, with goods valuing approximately 475.6 billion U.S. dollars. Mexico and Canada were the second and third largest exporters of goods to the United States, respectively. In 2023, Canada was the leading destination of goods exported from the United States, with U.S. trade goods worth over 350 billion U.S. dollars exported to Canada. Mexico and China also feature at the top of the list of importers of U.S. goods.

Graph and download economic data for Percent of Employment in Manufacturing in the United States (DISCONTINUED) (USAPEFANA) from 1970 to 2012 about percent, manufacturing, employment, and USA.

In 2024, the U.S. GDP increased from the previous year to about 29.18 trillion U.S. dollars. Gross domestic product (GDP) refers to the market value of all goods and services produced within a country. In 2024, the United States has the largest economy in the world. What is GDP? Gross domestic product is one of the most important indicators used to analyze the health of an economy. GDP is defined by the BEA as the market value of goods and services produced by labor and property in the United States, regardless of nationality. It is the primary measure of U.S. production. The OECD defines GDP as an aggregate measure of production equal to the sum of the gross values added of all resident, institutional units engaged in production (plus any taxes, and minus any subsidies, on products not included in the value of their outputs). GDP and national debt Although the United States had the highest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the world in 2022, this does not tell us much about the quality of life in any given country. GDP per capita at purchasing power parity (PPP) is an economic measurement that is thought to be a better method for comparing living standards across countries because it accounts for domestic inflation and variations in the cost of living. While the United States might have the largest economy, the country that ranked highest in terms of GDP at PPP was Luxembourg, amounting to around 141,333 international dollars per capita. Singapore, Ireland, and Qatar also ranked highly on the GDP PPP list, and the United States ranked 9th in 2022.

Graph and download economic data for Percent of Value of Loans, Made Under Participation or Syndication, by Time that Pricing Terms Were Set and by Commitment, During Survey Week, Formal Commitment, Small Domestic Banks (DISCONTINUED) (EFTSFXSSNQ) from Q3 2012 to Q2 2017 about syndication, SBA, pricing terms, participation, domestic, percent, loans, banks, depository institutions, and USA.

In the past four centuries, the population of the Thirteen Colonies and United States of America has grown from a recorded 350 people around the Jamestown colony in Virginia in 1610, to an estimated 346 million in 2025. While the fertility rate has now dropped well below replacement level, and the population is on track to go into a natural decline in the 2040s, projected high net immigration rates mean the population will continue growing well into the next century, crossing the 400 million mark in the 2070s. Indigenous population Early population figures for the Thirteen Colonies and United States come with certain caveats. Official records excluded the indigenous population, and they generally remained excluded until the late 1800s. In 1500, in the first decade of European colonization of the Americas, the native population living within the modern U.S. borders was believed to be around 1.9 million people. The spread of Old World diseases, such as smallpox, measles, and influenza, to biologically defenseless populations in the New World then wreaked havoc across the continent, often wiping out large portions of the population in areas that had not yet made contact with Europeans. By the time of Jamestown's founding in 1607, it is believed the native population within current U.S. borders had dropped by almost 60 percent. As the U.S. expanded, indigenous populations were largely still excluded from population figures as they were driven westward, however taxpaying Natives were included in the census from 1870 to 1890, before all were included thereafter. It should be noted that estimates for indigenous populations in the Americas vary significantly by source and time period. Migration and expansion fuels population growth The arrival of European settlers and African slaves was the key driver of population growth in North America in the 17th century. Settlers from Britain were the dominant group in the Thirteen Colonies, before settlers from elsewhere in Europe, particularly Germany and Ireland, made a large impact in the mid-19th century. By the end of the 19th century, improvements in transport technology and increasing economic opportunities saw migration to the United States increase further, particularly from southern and Eastern Europe, and in the first decade of the 1900s the number of migrants to the U.S. exceeded one million people in some years. It is also estimated that almost 400,000 African slaves were transported directly across the Atlantic to mainland North America between 1500 and 1866 (although the importation of slaves was abolished in 1808). Blacks made up a much larger share of the population before slavery's abolition. Twentieth and twenty-first century The U.S. population has grown steadily since 1900, reaching one hundred million in the 1910s, two hundred million in the 1960s, and three hundred million in 2007. Since WWII, the U.S. has established itself as the world's foremost superpower, with the world's largest economy, and most powerful military. This growth in prosperity has been accompanied by increases in living standards, particularly through medical advances, infrastructure improvements, clean water accessibility. These have all contributed to higher infant and child survival rates, as well as an increase in life expectancy (doubling from roughly 40 to 80 years in the past 150 years), which have also played a large part in population growth. As fertility rates decline and increases in life expectancy slows, migration remains the largest factor in population growth. Since the 1960s, Latin America has now become the most common origin for migrants in the U.S., while immigration rates from Asia have also increased significantly. It remains to be seen how immigration restrictions of the current administration affect long-term population projections for the United States.

The ratio of government expenditure to GDP in the United States stood at about 37.59 percent in 2024. From 2001 to 2024, the ratio rose by approximately 4.79 percentage points, though the increase followed an uneven trajectory rather than a consistent upward trend. Between 2024 and 2030, the ratio will rise by around 0.27 percentage points, showing an overall upward trend with periodic ups and downs.Shown here is the general government expenditure as a share of the national gross domestic product. As defined by the International Monetary Fund, the general government expenditure consists of total expense and the net acquisition of nonfinancial assets. The gross domestic product represents the total value of final goods and services produced during a year.

In 2021, the agriculture sector contributed around 0.94 percent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the United States. In that same year, 17.61 percent came from industry, and the service sector contributed the most to the GDP, at 76.4 percent.

In 2023, U.S. national health expenditure as a share of its gross domestic product (GDP) reached 17.6 percent, this was an increase on the previous year. The United States has the highest health spending based on GDP share among developed countries. Both public and private health spending in the U.S. is much higher than other developed countries. Why the U.S. pays so much moreWhile private health spending in Canada stays at around three percent and in Germany under two percent of the gross domestic product, it is nearly nine percent in the United States. Another reason for high costs can be found in physicians’ salaries, which are much higher in the U.S. than in other wealthy countries. A general practitioner in the U.S. earns nearly twice as much as the average physician in other high-income countries. Additionally, medicine spending per capita is also significantly higher in the United States. Finally, inflated health care administration costs are another of the predominant factors which make health care spending in the U.S. out of proportion. It is important to state that Americans do not pay more because they have a higher health care utilization, but mainly because of higher prices. Expected developmentsBy 2031, it is expected that health care spending in the U.S. will reach nearly one fifth of the nation’s gross domestic product. Or in dollar-terms, health care expenditures will accumulate to about seven trillion U.S. dollars in total.

In 2024, Chinese exports of trade goods to the United States amounted to about 438.95 billion U.S. dollars; a significant increase from 1985 levels, when imports from China amounted to about 3.86 billion U.S. dollars. U.S. exports to China Compared to U.S. imports from China, the value of U.S. exports to China in 2020 amounted to 427.23billion U.S. dollars. China is the United States’ largest trading partner, while China was the United States third largest goods export market. Some of the leading exports to China in the agricultural sector included soybeans, cotton, and pork products. Texas was the leading state that exported to China in 2020 based on total value of goods exports, at 16.9 billion U.S. dollars. U.S. - China trade war The trade war between the United States and China is an economic conflict between two of the world’s largest national economies. It started in 2018 when U.S. President Donald Trump started putting tariffs and trade barriers on China, with the intent to get China to conform to Trump’s wishes. President Trump claimed that China has unfair trade businesses. As a result of this trade war, it has caused a lot of tension between the U.S. and China. Nearly half of American companies impacted by the U.S.-China trade tariffs said that the trade war increased their cost of manufacturing. The healthcare product industry has suffered the most from the trade war in regards to reduced profits.

In 2023, the real gross domestic product (GDP) of California was 3.23 trillion U.S. dollars. This is a slight increase from the previous year, when the state's GDP stood at 3.23 trillion U.S. dollars.

In 2023, the real gross domestic product (GDP) of New York was about 1.78 trillion U.S. dollars. This is a slight increase from the previous year, when the state's GDP stood at 1.76 trillion U.S. dollars.

In 2023, the real gross domestic product (GDP) of Florida was about 1.28 trillion U.S. dollars. This is an increase from the previous year, when the state's GDP stood at around 1.22 trillion U.S. dollars.

The Volcker Shock was a period of historically high interest rates precipitated by Federal Reserve Chairperson Paul Volcker's decision to raise the central bank's key interest rate, the Fed funds effective rate, during the first three years of his term. Volcker was appointed chairperson of the Fed in August 1979 by President Jimmy Carter, as replacement for William Miller, who Carter had made his treasury secretary. Volcker was one of the most hawkish (supportive of tighter monetary policy to stem inflation) members of the Federal Reserve's committee, and quickly set about changing the course of monetary policy in the U.S. in order to quell inflation. The Volcker Shock is remembered for bringing an end to over a decade of high inflation in the United States, prompting a deep recession and high unemployment, and for spurring on debt defaults among developing countries in Latin America who had borrowed in U.S. dollars.

Monetary tightening and the recessions of the early '80s

Beginning in October 1979, Volcker's Fed tightened monetary policy by raising interest rates. This decision had the effect of depressing demand and slowing down the U.S. economy, as credit became more expensive for households and businesses. The Fed funds rate, the key overnight rate at which banks lend their excess reserves to each other, rose as high as 17.6 percent in early 1980. The rate was allowed to fall back below 10 percent following this first peak, however, due to worries that inflation was not falling fast enough, a second cycle of monetary tightening was embarked upon starting in August of 1980. The rate would reach its all-time peak in June of 1981, at 19.1 percent. The second recession sparked by these hikes was far deeper than the 1980 recession, with unemployment peaking at 10.8 percent in December 1980, the highest level since The Great Depression. This recession would drive inflation to a low point during Volcker's terms of 2.5 percent in August 1983.

The legacy of the Volcker Shock

By the end of Volcker's terms as Fed Chair, inflation was at a manageable rate of around four percent, while unemployment had fallen under six percent, as the economy grew and business confidence returned. While supporters of Volcker's actions point to these numbers as proof of the efficacy of his actions, critics have claimed that there were less harmful ways that inflation could have been brought under control. The recessions of the early 1980s are cited as accelerating deindustrialization in the U.S., as manufacturing jobs lost in 'rust belt' states such as Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania never returned during the years of recovery. The Volcker Shock was also a driving factor behind the Latin American debt crises of the 1980s, as governments in the region defaulted on debts which they had incurred in U.S. dollars. Debates about the validity of using interest rate hikes to get inflation under control have recently re-emerged due to the inflationary pressures facing the U.S. following the Coronavirus pandemic and the Federal Reserve's subsequent decision to embark on a course of monetary tightening.

One aim of the Soviet Union, and communist countries in general, was to achieve full employment. Official policy was designed to prevent unemployment, and the state stopped paying most unemployment benefits in the 1930s. Every citizen had the right (or requirement) to work, and jobs were allocated by the state, not competed for as they were in the west. People could apply for certain positions, based on their education, experience, or interests, but roles could often be distributed to meet employment demands, or preferential roles were distributed via nepotism. The socialist economic system removed job market competition, which provided increased job security but removed many of the incentives that boosted productivity (especially in later decades). In the 1970s and 1980s, average work weeks were under 35 hours long and people retired in their mid to late fifties. Compared to the U.S. in 1985, on average, work weeks were around four hours shorter in the USSR, and Soviet men retired five years earlier, while women retired nine years earlier than their American counterparts.

Wages In earlier years, wages had been tied to individual performance or output, however the de-Stalinization process of the 1960s introduced a more standardized system of payment; from this point onwards, base wages were more fixed, and bonuses had a larger impact on disposable income. Personal finances in the Soviet Union were very different from those in the west; wages were split into base salaries and bonuses, along with a social wage that was "paid" in the form of investments in housing, healthcare, education, and infrastructure, as well as subsidized vouchers for holidays and food. Many of these amenities were also provided by the state, which removed the individual costs that were required across the west and in post-Soviet states today. Overall, income and money in general had a much lower influence on daily life in the USSR than it did in the west, lessening factors such as financial stress and indebtedness, but restricting consumeristic freedom.

Gender differences A major difference between the East and West Blocs was the participation rate of women in the workforce. Throughout most of the USSR's history, women made up the majority of the workforce, with a 51.4 percent share in 1970, and 50.4 percent in 1989; in the U.S. figures for these years were 38 and 45 percent respectively. Although this was due to the fact that women also made up a larger share of the total population (around 53 percent in this period), Soviet women were possibly the most economically active in the world in these decades. When comparing activity rates of women aged between 40 and 44 across Europe in 1985, the USSR had a participation rate of 97 percent; this was the highest in the East Bloc (where rates ranged from 85 to 93 percent in other countries), and is much higher than rates in Northern Europe (71 percent), Western Europe (56 percent) and Southern Europe (37 percent).