Useful Stats: Higher education R&D steadily increased in the last decade, but not all fields shared the wealth

Higher education R&D (HERD) expenditures have steadily increased over time. They’ve soared past $100 billion in the most recent data year, fiscal year (FY) 2023, growing in every state. However, the gains are not shared equally in all fields of research.

SSTI analyzed HERD Survey data, finding that in the 10 FYs since 2013, science R&D fields, led by the life sciences, were responsible for the largest dollar growths. In contrast, non-S&E fields, led by education, experienced the largest relative growth. SSTI has examined these shifts over the past decade at the national level and broken down expenditures by R&D field at the state and institutional level for FY 2023. This edition of Useful Stats provides the resulting comprehensive picture of HERD expenditures by R&D field.

We’ve used the most recent FY 2023 HERD Survey data release. All these data are available for download on the HERD Survey website. Refer to the data tables for any notes or disclaimers associated with the data.

National trends in HERD expenditures by R&D field

First, SSTI examined nationwide HERD expenditures by R&D field over the past decade, from FY 2014 through 2023, available in Figure 1.

While HERD expenditures have increased nationwide by 62% over the past decade of available data, from FY 2014-2023, most of this growth was driven by increased expenditures within science fields (+32 billion or 60%).

This high level of dollar growth attributed to the science fields, however, is to be expected despite the smaller relative increase since science fields consistently make up nearly 80% of HERD expenditures (79% in FY 2014 and 78% in FY 2023). In contrast, engineering fields make up 16% (16% in FYs 2014 and 2023) and non-S&E’s make up 6% (5% in FY 2014) in FY 2023.

Looking instead at relative changes, both science and engineering fields grew by approximately 60% (60% and 59%, respectively), while non-S&E fields grew by just over 100% from FY 2014 to FY 2023.

Clicking on any of the major categories (science, engineering, and non-S&E) or fields (e.g., life sciences or education) within Figure 1 will reveal a breakdown of a broad R&D field into more specific fields. For example, under life sciences are the more specific R&D fields of health sciences and agricultural sciences, among others.

Figure 1: HERD expenditures broken down by R&D field, FY 2014-2023

Over the past decade, HERD expenditures in science fields, such as computer and information sciences, surpassed that of the social sciences.

Engineering fields such as aerospace, aeronautical, and astronautical engineering surpassed civil engineering, bioengineering and biomedical engineering, chemical engineering, and metallurgical and materials engineering.

Refer to Figure 1 for these trends and more.

State trends in HERD expenditures by R&D field

SSTI has already explored state trends in HERD expenditures this year, available here. In this section, the analysis is expanded to break down FY 2023 HERD expenditures by R&D field.

Figure 2 includes a map of total HERD expenditures and a dropdown menu to toggle an additional 10 R&D fields. The default data set, “All R&D Expenditures,” shows the same data available in SSTI’s aforementioned analysis. Data is broken down into five equal quintiles for each R&D field.

Figure 2: State HERD expenditures by R&D field, FY 2023

California, New York, and Texas have the largest overall HERD expenditures ($13.5 billion, $9 billion, and $8.3 billion, respectively), yet exploring different R&D fields reveals specializations within the R&D ecosystems of each state’s universities.

For example, within the computer and information sciences, Maryland ($415 million), Pennsylvania ($381 million), California ($337 million), Massachusetts ($264 million), and Texas ($251 million) lead the nation in terms of HERD expenditures as part of a group of just 12 states having spent over $100 million during FY 2023. These 12 states account for 74% of HERD expenditures within the R&D field.

Life sciences, being the largest R&D field by expenditures captured by the HERD survey, has less of a concentration than computer and information sciences, with 19 states’ higher education institutions over the billion-dollar HERD expenditure mark in FY 2023, led by California’s $8.5 billion and New York’s $6 billion.

These two states’ life sciences HERD expenditures account for 64% and 66% of the states’ respective totals.

There are just three states where life sciences is not the primary R&D field by HERD expenditures: Alaska’s largest R&D field by HERD expenditures is geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences; Delaware and Maine’s are both engineering.

Use the dropdown menu in Figure 2 to explore these and other trends.

Institution trends in HERD expenditures by R&D field

Examining HERD expenditures at the institution level reveals 33 universities with over $1 billion in HERD expenditures in FY 2023. These 33 higher education institutions accounted for 45% of overall HERD expenditures that year. Note that the HERD survey includes only institutions with over $150,000 in R&D expenditures each year.

California is home to six of the 33 institutions with over $1 billion in HERD expenditures. New York, Pennsylvania, and Texas each house three, and Georgia, North Carolina, Maryland, and Massachusetts each house two. The remaining 10 span 10 different states.

Interestingly, there is a nearly even split in status between these 33 institutions, with 15 being private and 18 being public.

Figure 3 below includes a radial of all 50 states and Washington, D.C.’s HERD expenditures, and once a state is clicked, all institutions captured by the HERD Survey ranked by their HERD expenditures.

Filters under the Figure’s title can filter data by all, public, or private higher education institutions, while the dropdown can filter data by R&D field.

Figure 3: State and Institution HERD expenditures by R&D field, FY 2023 

In terms of overall HERD expenditures, Johns Hopkins University leads with $3.8 billion in HERD expenditures in FY 2023. Note that this total includes the Applied Physics Laboratory, which accounted for just over $2.3 billion of the university’s value.

The University of California’s San Francisco campus follows, leading in the absence of the Applied Physic Laboratory, at $2 billion, closely trailed by the University of Pennsylvania’s just under $2 billion and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor’s $1.9 billion.

To explore trends by R&D field, SSTI encourages the use of Figure 3.

This page was prepared by SSTI using Federal funds under award ED22HDQ3070129 from the Economic Development Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce. The statements, findings, conclusions, and recommendations are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Economic Development Administration or the U.S. Department of Commerce.