# Are there any consumer electronics made in the USA? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 22, 2017, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-consumer-electronics-made-in-the-usa/777889 "2017-01-22T22:55:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-consumer-electronics-made-in-the-usa/777889/1 "2017-01-22T22:55:54Z")
All the talk about bringing back American manufacturing has me wondering this. I remember a while ago looking for US-made headphones, to no avail. There are shops that custom build PCs. Other than that, is it possible to get a smartphone/tablet, or printer, or TV that was manufactured in the US? ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-consumer-electronics-made-in-the-usa/777889/2 "2017-01-22T23:32:45Z")
This from 2013 suggests an increasing trend to bring manufacturing back home. A similar trend has been reported in the UK. As an aside, I have noticed that call centres are less likely to be overseas (as far as one can tell) than was the case ten years ago. > [@](#): > > it’s a stretch to say, as is commonly heard, that the U.S. doesn’t make anything anymore. In fact, Sirkin says, the U.S. makes about three-quarters of all the manufactured goods (including components) it consumes. The chemical and plastics industries are thriving, thanks to declining natural gas prices, and foreign automakers including BMW, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes, and Volkswagen have opened plants in the U.S. Master Lock returned (“onshored” or   “insourced” in labor-speak) 100 union jobs to its Milwaukee lock factory. Among the companies that have dug in their heels and continued to manufacture domestically is Lenox, which says it’s the only maker of fine bone china in the U.S. > > Some companies are bucking the outsourcing trend even in industries that have largely fled the U.S.: large appliances, electronics, and apparel. > > Appliances. In 2000, Michigan-based Whirlpool manufactured most of its front-loading washers in Germany. Now the company is in the midst of making a five-year, $1 billion investment in U.S.-based plants, facilities, and equipment. Of the products Whirlpool sells in the U.S., it makes 80 percent in U.S. plants. And it continues to ramp up production of front-loaders in Ohio, where it already makes dryers, dishwashers, freezers, and top-loaders. > > [Products Made in America - Consumer Reports Magazine](http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2013/02/made-in-america/index.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-consumer-electronics-made-in-the-usa/777889/3 "2017-01-22T23:56:31Z")
Based on [this document](http://www.esa.doc.gov/sites/default/files/made-in-america-computer-and-electronic-products.pdf) (PDF), the US manufactures a good number of electronic components but very little in way of end-user consumer electronics. Mainly semiconductors, aeronautical navigational systems, circuit board assemblies and other specialized or component specific fields. Even in those fields, the only place where the US has a trade surplus is in software (which isn’t ‘manufactured’ in the sense you’re asking) and electricity measuring instruments. I think that even any computer/phone/tablet components that were domestically made (if any) get sent overseas to be slapped together. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-consumer-electronics-made-in-the-usa/777889/4 "2017-01-23T01:19:38Z")
Apple manufactures the [Mac Pro](http://www.macrumors.com/2014/06/06/cook-visits-mac-pro-factory/) in Texas. But this is a high-dollar, low-volume device. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-consumer-electronics-made-in-the-usa/777889/5 "2017-01-23T03:03:20Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Apple manufactures the [Mac Pro](http://www.macrumors.com/2014/06/06/cook-visits-mac-pro-factory/) in Texas. > But this is a high-dollar, low-volume device. Probably part of why it’s so overpriced, underpowered, and rarely updated =/ ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-consumer-electronics-made-in-the-usa/777889/6 "2017-01-23T03:16:57Z")
Silo has claimed its TV’s are made in America, but if [their website is any indication](http://www.silotv.net/about.php), I wouldn’t trust their quality control. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-consumer-electronics-made-in-the-usa/777889/7 "2017-01-23T03:23:58Z")
> [@boffking](#): > > I remember a while ago looking for US-made headphones, to no avail. Grado headphones are and have always been US made. [http://gradolabs.com/](http://gradolabs.com/) Etymotic use Knowles drivers, similarly mostly US made. [https://www.etymotic.com/](https://www.etymotic.com/)[http://www.knowles.com](http://www.knowles.com) (Knowles are fairly international, and supply just about every ear-canal custom earphone manufacture.) ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-consumer-electronics-made-in-the-usa/777889/8 "2017-01-23T04:33:06Z")
To add, in the field of high end audio, there are a great many US manufacturers. This is something of a cottage industry, with high prices, low volumes and insane markups. Some companies make high end products in the US and make a mid-range in the far east. Even in the very high end you will find entire board level components that are actually made in China and assembled into the final product in the US. “Made in xxx” is never an easy thing to sheet home. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2017, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-consumer-electronics-made-in-the-usa/777889/9 "2017-01-24T02:24:24Z")
There are goods such as desktop PC’s that the US government requires to be manufactured in the US. Is the OP question regarding 100% of the supply chain and the final assembly in the US? That’s a whole 'nother beast.