America’s maritime economy continues to power the United States in 2022, as reflected in sales and job growth. This is according to the latest statistics from the annual Marine Economic Satellite Account (MESA) released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), two agencies within the U.S. Department of Commerce.
The ocean economy is expected to have a total economic output of US$476 billion in 2022, accounting for approximately 2% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), and generate US$777 billion in sales.
The largest contributors to GDP are tourism and recreation at $163 billion, defense and public administration at $149 billion, and marine minerals at $62 billion. The revenue sectors showing the most growth in 2022 are shipbuilding (up 14.6%), coastal tourism and recreation (up 8.1%), and maritime transport and warehousing (up 7%).
For the first time, MESA included information on wind energy and alternative power generation, providing a deeper understanding of the importance of the offshore wind industry to the country’s economy. Wind farm construction sales totaled $161 million, and alternative power generation sales totaled $10 million.
These data reflect the period from 2017 to 2022 and are the most comprehensive and accurate to date. The Ocean Economy Statistics validate previous estimates of the value of the ocean economy.
The 10 sectors ranked by sales, inflation-adjusted, and year-over-year percentage change are:
- Tourism and recreation, $220 billion, up 8.1 percent
- Defense and Administration, $194 billion, down 2.5 percent
- Offshore minerals: $66 billion, down 1.3%
- Transportation and warehousing: $56 billion, up 7%
- Biological resources: $31 billion, down 6.7%
- Shipbuilding: $20 billion, up 14.6%
- Coastal public works: $15 billion, down 3.2%
- Research and education, $12 billion, up 4 percent
- Professional and technical services: US$8 billion, down 5.5%
- Offshore construction: $7 billion, up 3.1%
Reports, data and other information are available on NOAA’s Digital Coast website and the BEA Marine Economy website. MESA statistics reflect data for 2022, given data availability and analysis processes.
