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Useful Stats: Private and Federal Commitments to Research & Development, 2011
Most R&D expenditures are concentrated across just a handful of states, according to recent NSF data on how research and development is funded in the United States. In 2011, nearly two-thirds of all research and development expenditures came from private sources. In the wake of the nation’s federal stimulus package that saw an upswing in government spending on research and development, most states are beginning to rely more on innovation that stems from R&D conducted and paid for by private sources rather than the federal government.
Two recent data sources from the National Science Foundation shed light on how research and development funding is distributed across the United States. The Business Research and Development and Innovation Survey (BRDIS) is the primary source of information on R&D performed or funded by business within the United States, while the Survey of Federal Funds for Research and Development reports on R&D funding levels from 27 government agencies. When taken together, both surveys provide a general picture of which states have the highest concentrations of R&D funding.
Between the federal government and individual companies, approximately $365 billion was spent on research and development activities performed in the United States. Of this, approximately one-third ($132 billion) came from federal government commitments, while approximately two-thirds ($233 billion) came from companies. An additional $22 billion in funding came from non-federal and non-business sources.
According to the InfoBrief introducing the BRDIS survey, as discussed in a Digest article last week, the 10 states with the highest level of business R&D account for $163 billion (70 percent) of the $233 billion total. Commitments from the federal government are similarly concentrated across just a few states. The 10 states with the highest level of federal commitments to R&D account for $82.3 billion (62 percent) of the $132.2 billion total. California ranked the highest in R&D expenditures stemming from both the federal government and from private sources. Massachusetts and Texas rank within the top five in both categories, while Washington, New York, and Pennsylvania rank within the top 10 in both categories.
Some states fared considerably well in attracting federal R&D dollars, especially when compared to their private R&D expenditures. Maryland and Virginia, the two states geographically closest to Washington D.C., received the second and third most federal R&D dollars, respectively, while their private companies spent the 22nd and 21st most. Alabama, home of eight different federal laboratories, received the sixth most federal R&D dollars, yet private R&D expenditures ranked just 33rd.
In the District of Columbia (95 percent), New Mexico (92 percent), Maryland (83 percent), and Alabama (82 percent), a significant proportion of the state’s total R&D expenditures came from federal sources. For states such as Delaware (5 percent), Indiana (13 percent), Oregon (14 percent), Minnesota (14 percent) and Michigan (14 percent), a much smaller proportion came from federal sources and private spending on R&D was far more prevalent.
Maryland (6.2 percent), Massachusetts (5.6 percent), and Washington (5.3 percent), had the highest amount of combined R&D expenditures as a percentage of Gross State Product (GSP), all above 5.0 percent. 15 states had combined R&D expenditures less than 1.0 percent of GSP. Maryland (5.1 percent), New Mexico (4.3 percent), District of Columbia, and Alabama (3 percent), had the highest amount of federal commitments to R&D as a percentage of GSP. Meanwhile, Washington (3.8 percent), California (3.3 percent), Massachusetts (3.1 percent) and Michigan (3.1 percent) had the highest amount of privately funded and conducted R&D as a percentage of GSP. In general, states in the Southeast and Upper Midwest had lower R&D expenditures as a percentage of GSP.
In the table below and in a downloadable Excel file, SSTI has prepared the data on each state’s federal commitments to R&D, private commitments to R&D, and these R&D expenditures as a percentage of GSP.
Private and Federal Research & Development Commitments by State, 2011
| State | Total R&D ($ millions) |
Total R&D / GSP |
Federal R&D / Total |
Federal R&D Commitments ($ millions) |
Federal Commitments / GSP |
Company R&D Commitments ($ millions) |
Company R&D / GSP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 6,478 | 3.7% | 82% | 5,295.3 | 3.0% | 835 | 0.5% |
| Alaska | 274 | 0.5% | 74% | 202.7 | 0.4% | 52 | 0.1% |
| Arizona | 7,200 | 2.9% | 41% | 2,947.4 | 1.2% | 3,776 | 1.5% |
| Arkansas | 513 | 0.5% | 36% | 185.0 | 0.2% | 307 | 0.3% |
| California | 91,833 | 4.7% | 26% | 23,766.4 | 1.2% | 64,104 | 3.3% |
| Colorado | 7,840 | 3.1% | 50% | 3,956.2 | 1.5% | 3,642 | 1.4% |
| Connecticut | 9,096 | 4.0% | 28% | 2,519.6 | 1.1% | 6,272 | 2.7% |
| Delaware | 2,193 | 3.9% | 5% | 115.1 | 0.2% | 1,453 | 2.6% |
| District of Columbia | 3,430 | 3.2% | 95% | 3,244.9 | 3.0% | 162 | 0.2% |
| Florida | 6,880 | 1.0% | 37% | 2,572.3 | 0.4% | 3,855 | 0.5% |
| Georgia | 5,117 | 1.2% | 29% | 1,467.2 | 0.4% | 3,303 | 0.8% |
| Hawaii | 659 | 1.0% | 65% | 426.9 | 0.6% | 183 | 0.3% |
| Idaho | 1,626 | 3.0% | 28% | 461.1 | 0.8% | 871 | 1.6% |
| Illinois | 14,865 | 2.3% | 20% | 2,993.5 | 0.5% | 10,764 | 1.6% |
| Indiana | 6,987 | 2.5% | 13% | 909.6 | 0.3% | 5,484 | 2.0% |
| Iowa | 2,438 | 1.7% | 29% | 702.4 | 0.5% | 1,736 | 1.2% |
| Kansas | 1,864 | 1.4% | 20% | 372.2 | 0.3% | 1,037 | 0.8% |
| Kentucky | 1,305 | 0.8% | 19% | 246.6 | 0.1% | 1,017 | 0.6% |
| Louisiana | 1,034 | 0.5% | 59% | 612.2 | 0.3% | 382 | 0.2% |
| Maine | 457 | 0.9% | 40% | 181.4 | 0.4% | 264 | 0.5% |
| Maryland | 19,581 | 6.2% | 83% | 16,155.5 | 5.1% | 2,867 | 0.9% |
| Massachusetts | 22,592 | 5.6% | 34% | 7,789.1 | 1.9% | 12,712 | 3.1% |
| Michigan | 15,525 | 3.9% | 14% | 2,156.9 | 0.5% | 12,156 | 3.1% |
| Minnesota | 6,907 | 2.5% | 14% | 973.3 | 0.4% | 5,592 | 2.0% |
| Mississippi | 814 | 0.9% | 75% | 610.0 | 0.7% | 189 | 0.2% |
| Missouri | 4,245 | 1.7% | 28% | 1,197.5 | 0.5% | 2,818 | 1.1% |
| Montana | 310 | 0.8% | 59% | 182.1 | 0.5% | 118 | 0.3% |
| Nebraska | 891 | 1.0% | 30% | 262.9 | 0.3% | 601 | 0.6% |
| Nevada | 1,098 | 0.9% | 44% | 482.2 | 0.4% | 554 | 0.5% |
| New Hampshire | 1,351 | 2.1% | 30% | 407.6 | 0.6% | 943 | 1.5% |
| New Jersey | 16,306 | 3.3% | 16% | 2,622.7 | 0.5% | 11,977 | 2.4% |
| New Mexico | 3,844 | 4.7% | 92% | 3,553.0 | 4.3% | 250 | 0.3% |
| New York | 15,206 | 1.3% | 35% | 5,252.6 | 0.4% | 9,141 | 0.8% |
| North Carolina | 8,135 | 1.9% | 25% | 2,069.1 | 0.5% | 5,157 | 1.2% |
| North Dakota | 371 | 1.0% | 32% | 118.1 | 0.3% | 236 | 0.6% |
| Ohio | 9,647 | 1.9% | 37% | 3,609.9 | 0.7% | 5,403 | 1.1% |
| Oklahoma | 1,022 | 0.7% | 47% | 475.6 | 0.3% | 507 | 0.3% |
| Oregon | 5,312 | 2.7% | 14% | 729.2 | 0.4% | 4,415 | 2.2% |
| Pennsylvania | 14,009 | 2.4% | 32% | 4,528.1 | 0.8% | 9,018 | 1.5% |
| Rhode Island | 1,115 | 2.3% | 55% | 612.8 | 1.3% | 451 | 0.9% |
| South Carolina | 1,799 | 1.1% | 29% | 515.7 | 0.3% | 949 | 0.6% |
| South Dakota | 195 | 0.5% | 32% | 61.9 | 0.2% | 112 | 0.3% |
| Tennessee | 3,612 | 1.4% | 61% | 2,213.9 | 0.9% | 1,279 | 0.5% |
| Texas | 20,043 | 1.6% | 29% | 5,904.0 | 0.5% | 12,920 | 1.0% |
| Utah | 3,715 | 3.1% | 47% | 1,757.9 | 1.5% | 1,874 | 1.6% |
| Vermont | 475 | 1.8% | 27% | 125.9 | 0.5% | 329 | 1.2% |
| Virginia | 12,114 | 2.9% | 71% | 8,637.4 | 2.1% | 3,138 | 0.7% |
| Washington | 18,960 | 5.3% | 26% | 4,980.2 | 1.4% | 13,659 | 3.8% |
| West Virginia | 487 | 0.7% | 54% | 261.3 | 0.4% | 213 | 0.3% |
| Wisconsin | 4,767 | 1.9% | 16% | 752.2 | 0.3% | 3,548 | 1.4% |
| Wyoming | 77 | 0.2% | 49% | 37.7 | 0.1% | 33 | 0.1% |
state tbed, useful stats, r&d
090414.xlsx