Flow of Goods: The Highly Concentrated Nature of Goods Trade in the United States | Brookings Institution

Mapping Freight: The Highly Concentrated Nature of Goods Trade in the United States | Brookings Institution

In a new report and interactive, Adie Tomer and Joseph Kane of the Metropolitan Policy Program analyze domestic and international goods trade data from 2010, arriving at a number of key conclusions and policy recommendations. Among them, more than 80 percent of all goods start or end in the nation's 100 largest metro areas; just 10 percent of the nation's trade corridors more 79 percent of all goods; and every region of the country relies on major network hubs to move large volumes of goods nationally and globally. Whether by ship, rail, truck, or train, Tomer and Kane argue that "With over 77 percent of the nation’s freight moving between different states, the United States must establish a more coordinated freight strategy across all levels of the public and private sectors."

The paper and data are accompanied by two very cool interactives that you can use to find out what commodities your city is trading to other cities domestically and globally. One shows trade flows among the 75 largest domestic markets and 25 largest global markets. The second shows the largest trade flows between over 400 U.S. metros/regions and each other plus the world. I had a lot of fun with this second one.

Interactive Trade Map

Select San Diego, #1 trade partner is Los Angeles (no surprise), #2 is China, and #3 is Riverside County.