LAREDO --:--:--MEXICO CITY --:--:--WASHINGTON D.C. --:--:--OTTAWA --:--:--
 ·  LIVE
← The Desk · The Dashboards
Border Intelligence · Live

The U.S.–Mexico
Border.

Every land port of entry, by the numbers. $804B in goods cross 22 doors across four states, and the value concentrates harder than almost anyone expects. Live trade and truck crossings, from Census and BTS.

The desk's read

Mexico is the number one U.S. trading partner, and most of that trade settles on land at these ports rather than crossing an ocean. The story the deficit headlines miss is what the flows show: roughly 74 cents of every dollar of Mexican manufactured exports is North American content, so this trade builds a shared production base instead of draining one. That is what makes the land border the place where integration gets settled every day.

Watch how concentrated it is: a handful of Texas ports, led by Laredo, carry the bulk, so the system is only as resilient as its busiest crossings.

$804B
Border trade · May 2025 – Apr 2026
6.8% year over year
22
Land ports of entry
Across 4 U.S. border states
45.4%
Laredo's share of border trade
#1 of 22 · more than the next four combined
7.40M
Truck crossings · trailing 12 mo
BTS border crossing data
The border at a glance

One border, twenty-two doors

Every land port, by trade value

U.S. Census Bureau, International Trade · Rolling 12 months · May 2025 – Apr 2026
Laredo, TX$365B 45.4%
El Paso Area, TX$160.7B 20%
Otay Mesa, CA$63.5B 7.9%
Hidalgo, TX$45.1B 5.6%
Eagle Pass, TX$43.6B 5.4%
Santa Teresa, NM$37.9B 4.7%
Nogales, AZ$34.3B 4.3%
Brownsville, TX$21.3B 2.6%
Calexico East, CA$20.4B 2.5%
Del Rio, TX$5.8B 0.7%
Douglas, AZ$2.5B 0.3%
Tecate, CA$1.1B 0.1%

Total import and export value, all modes, by U.S. port of entry. Trade concentrates hard: Laredo alone moves 45.4% of the border's value, and the El Paso Area is a distant second. The El Paso Area combines Ysleta, El Paso, and Tornillo.

Where the border trade lands

By U.S. border state · share of value
80%
Texas $644B
10.7%
California $86B
4.7%
New Mexico $38B
4.6%
Arizona $37B

Truck crossings by port

BTS · trailing 12 mo · share of border total
Laredo2.69M 36.4%
Otay Mesa0.91M 12.3%
El Paso0.76M 10.3%
Hidalgo0.67M 9.1%
Calexico East0.44M 6%
Nogales0.37M 5%
Brownsville0.29M 3.9%
Eagle Pass0.32M 4.3%

Data sources & methodology

Latest published · public U.S. government data
  • Trade value by port: U.S. Census Bureau, International Trade (imports GEN_VAL_MO + exports ALL_VAL_MO), by Schedule D port code, rolling 12 months. Detail releases ~5–6 weeks after the reference month.
  • Truck crossings by port: U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Border Crossing/Entry Data (monthly, ~2-month lag).
  • El Paso Area combines Ysleta, El Paso, and Tornillo, matching Texas Comptroller methodology.
  • Total U.S.–Mexico goods trade and land-share: U.S. Census Bureau FT900 and trade-by-mode tables.
Cite this dashboard

Covarrubias, D. (2026). The U.S.–Mexico Border: Trade and Crossings by Port of Entry. https://labs.drdanielcovarrubias.com/us-mexico-border

Data provenance
Trade value by portCurrent
Source
U.S. Census Bureau, International Trade (Schedule D)
Geography
U.S.–Mexico land ports
Frequency
Monthly, rolling 12 months
Next update
~5–6 weeks after the reference month
Revision
Historical values may be revised
Truck crossings by portCurrent
Source
U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Border Crossing/Entry Data
Geography
U.S.–Mexico land ports
Frequency
Monthly
Next update
~2-month lag after the reference month
Revision
Historical values may be revised
Total goods trade & land shareCurrent
Source
U.S. Census Bureau, FT900 and trade-by-mode tables
Geography
U.S.–Mexico, all modes
Frequency
Monthly
Next update
~5–6 weeks after the reference month
Revision
Historical values may be revised

Live figures are pulled directly from the source APIs at view time; current figures reflect the latest official release on each agency's schedule.

Cite this dashboard

Covarrubias, D. (2026). The U.S.–Mexico Border: Trade and Crossings by Port of Entry. https://labs.drdanielcovarrubias.com/us-mexico-border.