In 2020 about 39 million tons of salt were produced in the United States. There are four important categories of rock salt production:
- Underground mining
- Solution mining
- Vacuum pan salt
- Solar Salt
The United States consumes more salt than it produces. To satisfy demand in 2020, about 16 million tons of salt were imported.
The amount of imported salt has been increasing in the past few decades. This is mostly a result of increasing demand in the United States and lower production costs in other countries.
