Useful Stats II: S&E Doctorate Awards per Capita, by State, 2002 to 2006

According to the National Science Foundation, the number of science and engineering PhDs awarded in the U.S. has been increasing every year since 2002. To further examine trends of the PhDs awarded in each state, SSTI has prepared a table showing the number of S&E PhDs per 100,000 residents and each state's relative rank from 2002 to 2006, as well as the percent change in PhDs awarded per capita over these five years and the rank of that change.

In the U.S., there were 10.00 science and engineering PhDs awarded per 100,000 people in 2006. In that year, the District of Columbia had the highest ratio among jurisdictions with 58.08 S&E PhDs awarded per 100,000 people. This was followed by Massachusetts (26.78), Rhode Island (20.79), Delaware (17.12) and Maryland (14.96). Thirty-four of the states had a per capita number less than the U.S. average, and six states had less than five PhDs awarded per 100,000 people.

Over the five-year period from 2002 to 2006, the U.S. witnessed a 14.3 percent increase in per capita S&E PhDs awarded. Arkansas was the state with the highest S&E PhDs per capita increase, at 47.5 percent. This was followed by West Virginia, Rhode Island, Nevada, and Delaware. Twelve states had per capita increases higher than 25 percent, while eight states saw a decrease.

The chart is available at: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/032509t.htm

NSF's "S&E Doctoral Awards" series is available at: http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/pubseri.cfm?seri_id=11