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Useful Stats: Higher Ed R&D by state, 2008-2017

November 29, 2018

Higher education R&D expenditures (HERD) grew by 38.9 percent from 2008 to 2017, an increase of more than $21 billion, according to an SSTI analysis of recently released data from the National Science Foundation’s National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics. From 2016 to 2017, HERD grew by $3.8 billion, the largest year-over-year increase since 2010-2011. Higher education R&D expenditures grew the fastest in Connecticut (66.2 percent), Massachusetts (63.9 percent), and Wyoming (63.0 percent) over the 10-year period, while New York ($2.3 billion increase), California ($2.0 billion), and Massachusetts ($1.6 billion) saw the largest absolute gains during this time.

From 2016 to 2017, higher education R&D expenditures grew by $3.8 billion, the most in year-over-year new funding since 2010-2011. Of the new funds, 43.1 percent came from federal sources, 27.2 percent came from institutional funds, and 17.0 percent came from other sources, like nonprofit organizations. The remainder (12.7 percent) came from businesses, and state and local governments.

California remained the national leader in higher education R&D expenditures, with $9.2 billion in 2017, roughly 12.2 percent of the national total. Approximately 10 percent of the new funds for higher education R&D between 2016 and 2017 went to California, the most of any state.

Maine (19.1 percent decrease), New Mexico (12.5 percent decrease), and Louisiana (0.7 percent decrease) were the only states with fewer higher education R&D expenditures in 2017 than in 2008. Between 2016 and 2017, however, higher education R&D expenditures increased by 22 percent in Maine, the most of any state.

The map below shows higher education R&D expenditures by state in FY 2017, along with the one-, five-, and 10-year percentage changes. SSTI has also prepared a table, based on NSF HERD data, with additional data, that can be downloaded here in Excel format. SSTI will be exploring the data in more depth in coming weeks. Check back with the Digest for future stories.

useful stats, higher ed