Infographic: The most important US imports by state

Over the past couple of years, the supply chain has been disrupted by everything from the COVID-19 pandemic and cross-border vaccine mandates to the Ukraine War. But in spite of that, the U.S. continues to import trillions of dollars worth of goods every year.

OnDeck has pulled together data from the U.S. Census Bureau to create an interesting visualization of the top U.S. imports by state.

The Most Popular Imports in Every State

Key Findings

Despite being a major exporter of petroleum, the U.S. also consumes a significant amount of petroleum (7.9 million barrels per day in 2020). Petroleum is the top import in 12 states, making it the most common import.
Vehicles and medicine were the second most popular top imports, with 6 states each.
Among the imports that were unique to a single state were uranium (South Carolina), silver (Connecticut), road tractors (Iowa), printer parts (Virginia), and cow meat South Dakota)

The Top Unique Import in Every State

OnDeck also analyzed the most unique imports in every state, which means the products imported by the fewest other states.

Who would have guessed that New Jersey’s most popular unique import would be cheese, or that Hawaii’s would be tuna, or that Delaware’s would be pinapples? Well, that last one can be explained because the Dole fruit company receives its pineapple imports to the port of Wilmington, Delaware, and until a 2021 merger also used to have its headquarters there.