Useful Stats

From 2002-2021 (the last 20 years for which data is available), the total U.S. real gross domestic product (GDP adjusted for inflation, or Real GDP) increased by approximately 45%, from $13.5 trillion to $19.6 trillion in chained 2012 dollars. On a per capita basis, county-level real GDP increased by an average of 36% over the past 20 years, with a range of growth from -77% (Brooks County, Texas) to 3,950% (Culberson County, Texas).

Across the country, 2,539 counties experienced an increase in real GDP per capita growth between 2002 and 2021. The plurality were located in Texas (192 counties), (Texas alone has 8% of all U.S. counties), followed by Kansas (100), Georgia (97), Iowa (96), Montana (93) and Nebraska (92).

This edition of Useful Stats takes a high-level look at the United States’ change in Real Gross Domestic Product (RGDP, which is GDP adjusted for inflation) on a per capita basis for each of its counties, boroughs, parishes, etc. (hereon referred to as “counties”). Looking at RGDP per capita allows for an inflation adjusted, population standardized metric for comparing counties over time.

This article explores the Bureau of Economic Analysis’ (BEA) most recent data release for all industries. RDGP per capita is calculated using BEA’s county-level population data, which uses Census Bureau midyear population estimates. This data can be found at the end of this article.

Over the past four fiscal years, there have been 1,977 initial public offerings (IPOs) completed by companies headquartered in the U.S., according to PitchBook, yielding more than $549 billion in capital invested. These companies are located in 45 states, D.C., and Puerto Rico. Almost 20% of those companies are no longer publicly held, having been returned to private ownership, been acquired, merged or gone out of business.

Across the four years, data shows a spike of IPO size and count in 2021, with a total IPO count of 956 and total IPO size of $315.7 billion for the year. 

The Pitchbook data used in this analysis shows full transactions on completed IPOs for companies headquartered in the U.S. between October 1, 2018 and September 30, 2022. 

The map below shows the total number of companies that held their initial public offering in each state over the past 16 quarters (Q4 2018 to Q3 2022)). 

In fiscal year 2021, the nationwide success rate of applicants for National Institutes of Health (NIH) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I awards decreased slightly from FY 2020. This continued a downward trend over recent years. The success rate for NIH SBIR/STTR Phase I was nearly 13 percent (647 of 5,132 approved) in FY 2021, a decrease from nearly 14 percent (636 of 4,684 approved) in FY 2020 and from nearly 16 percent for all proposals submitted over the past decade.

SSTI’s analysis for this article is based on SBIR/STTR application and award data recently released by NIH.

Between 2017 and 2021, 23 percent of proposals submitted to NASA for Phase I SBIR/STTR funding were approved (1,887 awards from 8,360 proposals). The acceptance rate for Phase II proposals, which are generally encouraged or discouraged based on Phase I outcomes, was 58 percent (791 of 1,359 approved).

The number of Phase I proposals varies greatly by state. At the upper end of the range, California-based companies submitted approximately 22 percent (1,847) of all Phase I applications to NASA, and Colorado-based companies submitted 8.6 percent (719). At the other end of the range, South Dakota and Puerto Rico both saw only 1 proposal each, while no company in Alaska, Iowa, Nebraska, or North Dakota submitted a proposal to NASA during this five-year period.

Between March and April of 2020, the United States saw a massive drop in employment due to the COVID-19 pandemic: from approximately 151 million employees to fewer than 131 million. More than two years since the beginning of the pandemic, surveys suggest a near-complete recovery to pre-pandemic employment levels. Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) through March 2022 (the most recent final data published by BLS) reveal an average decrease of just 1 percent in employment across the country as whole since February 2020. While the U.S. is approaching full employment recovery at the national level, 36 states and D.C. continue to lag while 14 and Puerto Rico have surpassed their pre-pandemic employment.

As of March 2022, 21 states and territories are within 1 percent of their pre-pandemic employment.

After declines in 2016 and 2017, the number of graduate students and postdoctoral appointees at the nation’s institutions of higher education increased nationally from 2018 to 2020, according to National Science Foundation (NSF) data from its Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering (GSS) survey. However, this SSTI analysis shows considerable variation among the states over the five-year period from 2016 to 2020. Evaluating long-term trends in S&E graduate students and postdocs can help policymakers and program designers identify potential issues, enabling the development of more effective policies and programs.

This edition of Useful Stats presents an SSTI analysis for the number of SBIR/STTR awards from 2011 to 2020 (the most recently available complete data), examining which agencies make the most awards in each state and how each state’s composition of awards compares to the national profile.

Two federal agencies made the greatest number of SBIR/STTR awards in nearly every state. The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) accounted for the greatest number of SBIR/STTR awards in 35 states (including the District of Columbia), growing from 29 states as identified in a previous SSTI analysis for the 10-year period from 2009-2018. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) made the most awards in 15 states over the 10-years from 2011 to 2020, decreasing from the 22 states for the previously examined 10-year period, while the National Science Foundation made the most total awards in two states/territories for the combined 10-year period from 2011 to 2020.

Despite the shutdown of many business and government activities during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the total number of SBIR/STTR awards made to innovation-focused companies continued to increase over record-breaking 2019 levels, rising 3.7 percent. This edition of SSTI’s Useful Stats examines the total number of SBIR/STTR awards and the top awarding agency by state in 2020.

The total number of SBIR/STTR awards made nationally reached 7,305 in 2020. As seen in the first interactive map below, the states with the greatest total number of SBIR/STTR awards in 2020 were California (1,489), Massachusetts (731), Virginia (452), Texas (380), and Maryland (362). All states captured at least two awards in 2020; the only states seeing less than ten awards were Mississippi (5), Alaska (2), North Dakota (2), and Puerto Rico (2).

Continuing a streak lasting at least 10 years, the federal government was again the top funder of Higher Education R&D (HERD) in 2020. However, new SSTI analysis shows that the federal share of HERD funding has continued to decline nationally and in most states over the 10-year period from 2011 to 2020. This edition of SSTI’s Useful Stats provides an analysis of HERD funders by state in 2020, and an examination of 10-year trends for the period from 2011 to 2020 in HERD funding by source. 

Building on previous SSTI analysis showing that Higher Education Research & Development (HERD) expenditures increased across the U.S. despite the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, this edition of Useful Stats examines the distribution of R&D spending among the various fields of research at the nation’s colleges and universities. Specifically, this analysis examines 2020 HERD expenditures by state and field of research, finding that the life sciences continued to dominate academic R&D activity, accounting for 57.5 percent ($49.6 billion) of total HERD spending. Engineering was the second most funded research field in 2020, accounting for 15.9 percent ($13.7 billion) of the national total. The third most funded research field was physical sciences, accounting for 6.6 percent ($5.7 billion) of total U.S. HERD expenditures.

This edition of SSTI’s Useful Stats explores Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the nation’s urban areas and the top industry contributors to GDP in these areas. Specifically, this analysis explores both metropolitan area (defined by the Office of Management and Budget as areas with an urban core of more than 50,000 population) and micropolitan area (defined as areas with an urban core of between 10,000 and 50,000 population) GDP in 2020, as well as the top contributing industry to area GDP.

METROPOLITAN AREAS