When international investors scan the global map for where to put their money, California keeps landing near the top of the list.
A new report from Becker & Poliakoff, the national law firm, finds California ranked No. 3 in the United States for new foreign direct investment in 2024, pulling in $12.9 billion from abroad. The analysis draws on the most recent full-year federal data available and places California behind only Texas ($22.8 billion) and Georgia ($16.3 billion) among all 50 states.
The drivers are familiar ones for anyone who tracks the state's economy. Silicon Valley's technology and chip-design infrastructure, a life sciences industry with global reach, and major Pacific ports connecting California to capital markets in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan all factor into the state's draw. The practical result: foreign-owned businesses operating here support 885,600 California jobs — a figure no other state matches.
That workforce number matters because it illustrates what foreign investment actually produces on the ground. It is not simply a financial metric. It represents payrolls, facilities, supply chains, and economic activity woven into local communities across the state.
Nationally, the United States is not just competitive — it is dominant. America attracted $279 billion in foreign direct investment, more than doubling China's $116 billion. The Becker & Poliakoff report frames that gap in strategic terms: FDI leadership reinforces the dollar's global reserve currency status, gives the federal government greater leverage in imposing economic sanctions, and supports 15 million jobs held by Americans working for foreign-owned companies.
The global top 10 reflects how concentrated FDI flows have become among a handful of financial centers and major economies. Singapore ranked second at $143 billion, Hong Kong third at $126 billion, followed by China, Luxembourg, Canada, Brazil, Australia, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates.
For California, the third-place national ranking is a data point worth noting in a period when debates about the state's business climate are rarely quiet. Whatever policy friction exists at the margins, the numbers from international investors tell a different story — one in which California remains a first-tier destination for global capital with few real rivals.
