State Government Agencies’ Expenditures for R&D Increase 11% from FY 2023 to FY 2024

In FY 2024, state government agencies' expenditures on research and experimental development (R&D) totaled $3.3 billion, an increase of 10.6% from the FY 2023 expenditures of $3.0 billion (figure 1).^​ However, when adjusted for inflation, state government agency R&D expenditures totaled $2.7 billion in FY 2024, an increase of 8.0% from the FY 2023 adjusted amount of $2.5 billion.^​

This InfoBrief presents summary statistics from the FY 2024 Survey of State Government Research and Development, sponsored by the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) within the U.S. National Science Foundation. Amounts reported do not include direct appropriations from state legislatures to universities, colleges, and private organizations. Data presented in this InfoBrief are in current dollars unless otherwise noted.

State governments' FY 2024 expenditures for both R&D and R&D plant totaled $3.4 billion (table 1). R&D accounted for 99% of these expenditures at $3.3 billion. R&D plant accounted for just $24 million.^​ State governments served as the largest source of funds for agency R&D at $2.6 billion (78%), while federal funds accounted for $727 million (22%).^​ In FY 2023, expenditures from state government funds accounted for 75% and federal funding accounted for 25% of all state R&D expenditures.

Of the six functional categories of state agency R&D expenditures, health-related R&D remained the largest with nearly $1.5 billion in expenditures in FY 2024, increasing 13.6% from FY 2023. Environment and natural resources-related R&D remained the second-largest functional category with $616 million, while energy-related R&D followed with $503 million. Transportation-related R&D totaled $345 million, while agriculture-related R&D totaled $188 million. Other R&D, a combination of activities including but not limited to corrections, criminal justice, education, forensic science, labor, public safety, and social services, totaled $237 million in FY 2024.

All 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico participated in the FY 2024 survey; 516 of the 534 surveyed agencies responded. Puerto Rico is not included in the U.S. total due to its classification as a U.S. territory. Data for the FY 2024 survey were collected for NCSES by the Census Bureau under an interagency agreement.

For most states, the fiscal year begins on 1 July and ends the following 30 June. For example, FY 2024 begins on 1 July 2023 and ends on 30 June 2024. There are, however, five exceptions to the 30 June fiscal year end: New York (ends 31 March); Texas (ends 31 August); and Alabama, Michigan, and the District of Columbia (all end 30 September).Data presented in this InfoBrief are for each of the respective fiscal year periods as defined by the states.

Terms such as state, state government, and state agencies have equivalent meaning and are used interchangeably throughout this InfoBrief. The amounts reported here are for R&D expenditures of state government departments, agencies, public authorities, commissions, and other dependent entities that operate separately or somewhat autonomously from the central state government. State government R&D totals can display considerable volatility between survey years due to several national and state-specific factors. Large changes are not unusual, especially for discretionary spending items such as R&D. R&D plant expenditures can be highly variable year to year and will increase or decrease as capital projects begin or end.

Amounts reported do not include direct appropriations from state legislatures to universities, colleges, and private organizations. As a result, the $1.2 billion in FY 2024 expenditures reported by state agencies to support R&D performance by higher education institutions differs from the figure reported by universities and colleges in the NCSES Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) Survey for R&D expenditures funded by state and local government sources because the latter includes direct state appropriations, which are excluded from the Survey of State Government R&D, as well as local governments.

Although this survey is a census of state government agencies that fund R&D and there is no sampling error, survey data are still subject to some degree of unmeasurable nonsampling error, which may include errors in classification or measurement of certain aspects of an agency's R&D. For additional information see the section "Survey Quality Measures" within the Technical Notes of the survey.^​

State- and agency-specific data not available in this InfoBrief are available in the full set of data tables from this survey at https://ncses.nsf.gov/surveys/state-government-research-development/. For more information, please contact NCSES.

NCSES has reviewed this product for unauthorized disclosure of confidential information and approved its release (NCSES-DRN25-050).

1 Percentages are calculated based on total dollar values, not the rounded dollar values presented in this InfoBrief.

2 In this report, dollars adjusted for inflation (i.e., constant dollars) are based on the gross domestic product (GDP) implicit price deflator (currently in 2017 dollars) as published by the Bureau of Economic Analysis at https://www.bea.gov/iTable/index_nipa.cfm, Table​ 1.1.9 Implicit Price Deflators for Gross Domestic Product, accessed on 8 August 2025. Note that GDP deflators are calculated on an economy-wide scale and do not explicitly focus on R&D.

3 Expenditures for R&D do not include expenditures for R&D plant because the two are separate funding activities.

4 State sources of funding include, but are not necessarily limited to, appropriations from the state legislature; agricultural commodity assessments (checkoffs); bond funds; general funds; restricted funds; revenue funds; tobacco settlement funds; and revenue from charges, fees, or fines.

5 NCSES sponsors several surveys that measure R&D performance for various sectors of the economy. Business sector R&D performance survey results are available from the Annual Business Survey and the Business Enterprise Research and Development Survey. Higher education sector R&D performance is measured by the Higher Education Research and Development Survey. The nonprofit sector R&D performance is measured by the Nonprofit Research Activities Survey. The federal government's intramural performance of R&D is measured by the Federal Facilities Research and Development Survey and the FFRDC Research and Development Survey.

6 Basic research is defined as experimental or theoretical work undertaken primarily to acquire new knowledge of the underlying foundations of phenomena and observable facts, without any particular application or use in view.

7 Experimental development is defined as systematic work, drawing on knowledge gained from research and practical experience and producing additional knowledge, which is directed to producing new products or processes or to improving existing products or processes.

8 Survey Technical Notes are available at https://ncses.nsf.gov/surveys/state-government-research-development/2024#technical-notes.

National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES). 2025. State Government Agencies' Expenditures for R&D Increase 11% from FY 2023 to FY 2024. NSF 26-303. Alexandria, VA: U.S. National Science Foundation. Available at https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf26303.

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