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NSF: R&D Activity Concentrated in Small Number of States
A recently released data brief from the National Science Foundation, entitled Six States Account for Half of the Nation's R&D, analyzed the distribution of research and development activity by state and found most of the activity is concentrated in a small number of states.
As the data brief reports, six states—California, Michigan, New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Texas (in decreasing order of magnitude)— account for half of the nation's R&D. California's level of R&D expenditures was $36 billion and represented approximately one-fifth of the $177 billion U.S. total.
The top ten states (adding, in descending order, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Ohio) accounted for nearly two-thirds of the national effort. The 20 highest-ranking states in R&D expenditures accounted for approximately 85 percent of the U.S. total. The lowest 20 states accounted for five percent.
NSF also examined the states' R&D activity in relation to the size of their economies as measured by the Gross State Product. The proportion of their economies devoted to R&D activities is presented in terms of "R&D intensity." California and Michigan—the two highest ranking states in total R&D—also ranked high in terms of R&D intensity. However, New York (which ranked third in overall R&D performance) had a relatively low 1.8 percent rating for R&D intensity.
NSF suggests that the R&D performance of New York, Texas, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida is closely related to the states overall economic size rather than portion of their economies devoted to R&D. In contrast, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Maryland have high R&D levels in relation to their economic size.
Top 10 States Rank total R&D Performance R&D Intensity (R&D/GSP) 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10 California
Michigan
New York
Massachusetts
New Jersey
Texas
Illinois
Pennsylvania
Maryland
Ohio New Mexico
District of Columbia
Michigan
Massachusetts
Maryland
Delaware
California
Connecticut
Rhode Island
Idaho
For a copy of NSF Data Brief 98-306, Six States Account for Half of the Nation's R&D, call 703/306-1772 extension 6938 or visit their web site at www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/databrf/db98306.htm
Virginia