Useful Stats: Federal R&D Obligations by State, FY 2002-07

In 2007, the federal government dedicated $111.4 billion to R&D, an amount roughly equal to 0.81 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), according to a recent report from the National Science Foundation (NSF). While research-intensive states, such as California, Maryland, Massachusetts and Virginia are the leading targets for federal R&D spending, several other states attracted a comparable amount of federal funding relative to their economies between 2002 and 2007. Montana, Washington, Utah, Tennessee and Colorado led the country in expanding their federal R&D obligations during that five-year period. The District of Columbia and New Mexico rank with the top states in federal obligations relative to their gross state product (GSP). Despite a general pattern of positive growth around much of the country, federal obligation rates fell in many southern states during this period.

NSF's Federal Funds for Research and Development series illustrates trends in the federal government's funding obligations for science and engineering R&D. The series tracks federal support to government agencies, academic institutions, research centers, state and local governments, nonprofit organizations, as well as private companies. It provides detailed information on funding agencies and research performers by state.

Using the most recent report from this series, SSTI has prepared a table showing federal R&D obligations by state for each year from 2002 to 2007. The table includes data on the change and percentage change in funding between FY06 and FY07. It also includes data on funding changes over the five-year period and the size of federal R&D obligations relative to gross state product. The table is available at: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/063010t.htm (See the May 26, 2010 issue for SSTI's data and analysis on federal R&D obligations to industry by state.).

During the five-year span between 2002 and 2007, federal R&D obligations increased by 32.7 percent, though spending slowed considerably in 2006 and 2007. Because of the nature of federal R&D funding, the data on annual change in funding levels can be misleading. Specific projects, particularly the construction of facilities, can cause single-year jumps in funding levels that do not continue into the next year.

California, which continues to be the country's leading federal R&D funding recipient, also experienced the largest increase in funding between 2002 and 2007. Federal obligations grew by 35.9 percent, from $15.7 billion to $21.3 billion. Maryland, Virginia, Massachusetts and Texas round out the top five overall recipients in 2007, all of which increased their obligations by more than the national average during the five-year period.

A single-year obligation in Montana skewed the performance data for that state in 2007 putting it among the top performers relative to its smaller economy. A nearly one-half billion dollar, intramural construction investment by the National Institutes of Health for a national biocontainment laboratory placed Montana at the top of the list for one-year and five-year relative growth. In 2007, the state ranked sixth in federal obligations relative to GSP. During the other years of the study, however, Montana received obligations consistent with the lower rates relative to previous funding and GSP common in the Mountain states.

During fiscal years 2002-2007, many southern states saw their federal R&D obligations greatly reduced. Fourteen states experienced cuts during that five-year period. Four of the five states with the largest cuts were in the South, including Georgia, Mississippi, Kentucky and Alabama. Louisiana, Oklahoma, Missouri and West Virginia also had their federal R&D funding reduced.

This pattern in the South is exacerbated by a few single-year funding anomalies, including an unusually high-level of funding in Georgia in 2002. Even given these quirks, funding throughout the South (except in North Carolina and Tennessee) did not keep pace with the national average.

Federal Funds for Research and Development: Fiscal Years 2007-09 is available at: http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/nsf10305/pdf/nsf10305.pdf.