Overall R&D Expenditures in US by state examined from 2002 to 2016

Submitted by Caroline Guillet on 11 June 2019

The National Centre for Science and Engineering Statistics’ (NCF’s) and the National Patterns of R&D Resources series (NCSES) are US primary providers of statistical data on the U.S. science and engineering enterprise. They enable to map the situation of science and engineering in the US.

Relying on NCF’s and NCSES data, STTI examined stats on the overall R&D intensity by state over a 15-year period, from 2002 to 2016. This provides an overview of the R&D intensity in the US on a period of almost two decades.

R&D intensity is defined as the total of R&D expenditures per state, and their share of each state’s gross domestic product in a given year.

Regarding the increase in R&D intensity, over the 15-year period from 2002 to 2016, there was an increase in a total of 22 states, led by Wyoming (95.0 % increase), Missouri (83.9 %), and North Carolina (51.4%).

On the contrary, a decline was observed in a majority of states over this period, with West Virginia (47.9% decrease), Alaska (42.1%), and Vermont (40.9%) being the most concerned. Actually, a majority of states have known a slowdown of R&D (and consequently a decline of R&D in a state’s GDP share), remaining below the national average. On the other hand, between 2002 and 2016, 5 states stood out for exceeding the national average in both R&D intensity and increase in R&D intensity: Oregon, Delaware, California, Maryland, and Massachusetts.

Regarding R&D expenditures in absolute value, the striking data is that California’s overall R&D expenditures is almost equivalent of the total of 6 combined states: South Texas, New York, Michigan, Washington, Maryland and Massachusetts.  If this data is not surprising, it highlights a geographic unevenness in the concentration of R&D in the US.

To see more details on the R&D intensity evolution in the US, please follow the link.

Third Country
United States of America
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