GAO finds Bayh-Dole still working
Advanced chemistry R&D is target of new $123M fund
Useful Stats: How has the relationship between GDP and R&D changed since the 1950s?
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.
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.
Useful Stats: How do the largest higher education institutions fund their R&D expenditures?
Useful Stats: Higher education R&D expenditures and intensity by state
Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) expenditures grew in every state between Fiscal years (FYs) 2010 and 2024, rising 92% nationally over the 15-year period. However, when you adjust for inflation, five states and Puerto Rico instead experienced a real decline in HERD expenditures. Despite this broad growth, HERD expenditures remain highly concentrated, with five states having accounted for nearly 40% of all higher education R&D expenditures nationwide in FY 2024.
Useful Stats: Higher education R&D expenditures reach $117 billion in FY 2024
Higher Education R&D expenditures jumped 8%, or nearly $9 billion, from fiscal year (FY) 2023 to 2024, reaching an all-time high of over $117 billion, reveals new Higher Education R&D (HERD) survey data. The funding sources of HERD expenditures remain proportionally unchanged from the prior year, with all sources increasing, and the federal government ($5 billion) and institution funds ($2.5 billion) accounting for the largest dollar increases.
Higher Education R&D expenditures jumped 8%, or nearly $9 billion, from fiscal year (FY) 2023 to 2024, reaching an all-time high of over $117 billion, reveals new Higher Education R&D (HERD) survey data. The funding sources of HERD expenditures remain proportionally unchanged from the prior year, with all sources increasing, and the federal government ($5 billion) and institution funds ($2.5 billion) accounting for the largest dollar increases.
Adjusted for inflation, overall HERD expenditures increased by 5%—the second largest year-over-year increase in the past decade—while all sources of funds except business increased.
Useful Stats: A standardized look at state-level academic S&E article output
States invest heavily in academic research with the expectation that these efforts will advance scientific knowledge, support innovative industries, and strengthen local talent pipelines. Comparing research performance across state lines is difficult due to differences in academic landscapes: some may have large medical schools with high-cost labs, while others have research-active public universities in lower-cost fields or are more pedagogically focused.
Legislative & Federal News for December 11, 2025
Trump Administration seeks public input for advancing R&D, manufacturing
Useful Stats: Business R&D continues to consolidate in top states
With federal R&D investments unlikely to keep pace with inflation or international competition based on the administration’s budget request, cuts to existing research grants, and Congress’s inability to pass a budget, business R&D investments become more critical for sustaining the competitiveness of regional innovation economies.
With federal R&D investments unlikely to keep pace with inflation or international competition based on the administration’s budget request, cuts to existing research grants, and Congress’s inability to pass a budget, business R&D investments become more critical for sustaining the competitiveness of regional innovation economies. Trends evident in new data released by the National Science Foundation point to areas of potential concern or need for state TBED policy attention and potential adjustment: business R&D is growing even more concentrated geographically, and for many areas of the country business investments likely are not growing at a sufficient pace to maintain the regions’ innovation capacity.
In 2023, just four states comprised 54% of the nation’s domestic business R&D expenditures, a sharp increase from being less than 45% in 2014, SSTI analysis of new Business Enterprise Research and Development (BERD) survey data reveals. The consolidation of BERD expenditures in the top states may lead one to think that less R&D is occurring outside of the largest states, but this is not the case; 24 jurisdictions doubled BERD expenditures in the past decade, with all but one state increasing total expenditures. Adjusted for inflation, however, reveals a more modest nine jurisdictions doubled their business R&D activities, while all but five increased. These trends and more are explored in this edition of Useful Stats.