Total research and experimental development (R&D) performed in the U.S. reached nearly $1 trillion of expenditures in 2024, reveals new data from the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES). This represents a 6% increase over the prior year, a 101% increase in the past 10 years, and a nearly 16,000% increase in the past 70 years.
Adjusted for inflation, total R&D expenditures, relative to their 2024 values, have increased more modestly but still reflect impressive growth: 3% since 2023; 56% in the 10 years since 2015; and approximately 1,670% in the 70 years since 1955.
Figure 1 below includes two line charts, each with a line for billions of current and constant (2017) USD: GDP on the left and R&D expenditures on the right. Periods of recession are highlighted in grey for applicable years. Note that each chart has a different y-axis.
Figure 1: GDP and total R&D in billions of Current and Constant (2017) USD, 1953-2024
R&D expenditures on their own are important to consider but lack needed context. A common metric to use as a baseline is gross domestic product (GDP)—the value of the final goods and services produced in a given region—which can be interpreted as the economic output of a region; so, how have these R&D expenditures changed relative to overall economic output across the U.S.?
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the R&D:GDP ratio has remained relatively stable, near its all-time high (3.42% in 2022) at around 3.3-3.4% after a decade-long period of growth following the Great Recession.
Since 1953, the R&D:GDP ratio has increased by approximately 155%, from 1.33% to 3.39%, but much of that growth occurred before 1965; from 1953 to 1964, the ratio increased by 110%, but from 1964 to 2024 it increased just 22%. It is important to keep in mind that a higher R&D:GDP ratio isn’t always a good thing, as it fails to account for spending efficiency and the ability to convert the performed R&D into commercialized goods and other applications.
To easily see trends over the past 72 years from 1953 to 2024, the full breadth of available data, SSTI has prepared Figure 2, which includes a stacked column chart of the R&D:GDP ratio (%) broken down by performer. The stacked values add to the total R&D:GDP ratio, while still allowing a visual distinction between the growth or decline of each component. Periods of recession are highlighted.
Figure 2: R&D:GDP (%) by performer, 1953-2024
Note that in Figure 2, “Other” is inclusive of R&D performed by nonfederal government and nonprofit organizations, while “Federal” includes federal intramural R&D as well as R&D by federally funded R&D centers (FFRDCs).
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.