Best States for Research and Development

Annual spending on research & development in the U.S. has climbed from $407 billion in 2010 to nearly $940 billion in 2023, according to the latest data available from the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics. This funding supports the efforts of researchers responsible for new technologies, infrastructure development, health care advances and more.

While new innovations develop across the United States, some states create better environments for professional and aspiring researchers than others. To highlight the best states for research and development and those that don’t prioritize it as much, SmileHub compared each of the 50 states based on 17 key metrics. The data set ranges from researchers per capita to the number of research charities per capita to research and development spending per capita.

If you want to support research organizations but don’t know where to donate, check out our picks for the Best Charities for Research in 2025.

• Main Findings
• Methodology

Main Findings

Best States for Research and Development

Overall Rank*	State	Total Score	Research Workforce & Innovation Rank	Research Funding & Support Rank	Research Education Rank
1	Massachusetts	85.14	1	1	1
2	California	71.52	5	3	2
3	Maryland	66.53	19	2	4
4	Colorado	63.49	3	7	5
5	Washington	63.19	2	5	10
6	Virginia	55.77	4	10	23
7	Connecticut	53.90	13	8	11
8	Oregon	53.06	6	13	9
9	Michigan	52.34	7	11	17
10	New Jersey	51.66	8	17	3
11	New York	51.34	14	9	16
12	Pennsylvania	47.60	22	12	12
13	Delaware	47.54	23	6	47
14	Rhode Island	46.35	9	15	31
15	New Mexico	46.08	34	4	37
16	North Carolina	45.90	24	14	7
17	New Hampshire	44.94	16	16	18
18	Illinois	43.57	18	18	22
19	Arizona	43.41	11	23	15
20	Utah	43.23	12	19	32
21	Ohio	40.92	25	20	13
22	Idaho	40.31	10	27	19
23	Texas	40.22	20	26	8
24	Minnesota	39.68	15	21	39
25	Indiana	37.98	17	24	36
26	Wisconsin	35.60	21	25	42
27	Alabama	33.38	46	22	14
28	Tennessee	32.05	33	31	21
29	Vermont	31.95	30	29	26
30	Missouri	31.00	36	28	24
31	Georgia	30.56	35	32	20
32	Florida	30.34	26	37	25
33	Kansas	27.99	27	33	40
34	Alaska	26.70	42	35	6
35	Iowa	26.34	41	30	43
36	Hawaii	26.19	37	36	30
37	Montana	24.50	47	34	27
38	Maine	24.27	38	41	35
39	South Carolina	24.24	40	39	38
40	Wyoming	23.43	29	43	29
41	Nebraska	22.69	43	38	45
42	South Dakota	21.88	32	45	34
43	Nevada	20.97	28	49	41
44	Oklahoma	20.78	31	42	50
45	North Dakota	19.30	48	40	33
46	Arkansas	16.78	39	50	46
47	West Virginia	16.62	44	48	48
48	Louisiana	15.49	49	44	28
49	Kentucky	15.15	45	47	49
50	Mississippi	11.61	50	46	44

Notes: *1 = Best

With the exception of “Total Score,” all of the columns in the table above depict the relative rank of that state, where a rank of 1 represents the best conditions for that metric category.

 

Methodology

To determine which states are the best for research and development, SmileHub compared the 50 states across three key dimensions: 1) Research Workforce & Innovation, 2) Research Funding & Support and 3) Research Education.

We evaluated those dimensions using 17 relevant metrics, which are listed below with their corresponding weights. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the highest level of research prioritization. For metrics marked with an asterisk (*), the square root of the population was used to calculate the population size in order to avoid overcompensating for population differences across states.

We then determined each state’s weighted average across all metrics to calculate its overall score and used the resulting scores to rank-order the states.

Research Workforce & Innovation - Total Points: 40

• STEM Workforce per Capita: Full Weight (~6.67 Points)
• Researchers per Capita: Full Weight (~6.67 Points)
• Average Salary for Researchers: Full Weight (~6.67 Points)
  Note: Salary adjusted by the cost of living index.
• Research Facilities per Capita*: Full Weight (~6.67 Points)
• Patents Registered per Capita*: Full Weight (~6.67 Points)
  Note: This metric includes utility, design, plant, and reissue patents.
• Scientific Knowledge Output: Full Weight (~6.67 Points)
  Note: This metric represents the Academic Science and Engineering Article Output per $1 Million of Academic science and engineering R&D.

Research Funding & Support - Total Points: 40

• Research Charities per Capita*: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)
• National Institutes of Health Grant Funding: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)
  Note: This composed metric includes the number of grants per square root of population and the total funding per capita.
• Federal Research Funding per Capita: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)
• National Science Foundation Support per Capita: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)
  Note: This composed metric includes the number of National Science Foundation accepted projects per the square root of the population and the total National Science Foundation funding per capita.
• Research and Development Spending per Capita: Double Weight (~10.00 Points)
• Research and Development Intensity: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)
  Note: Research and development (R&D) intensity for a country is defined as the R&D expenditure as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP).
• Milken Institute State Technology and Science Index Score: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)
  Note: The index examines a state’s R&D capacity to see if it has facilities that can attract funding and create innovations that can be commercialized. We evaluate state rankings for academic, industry, and federal government R&D funding; National Science Foundation activity; and Small Business Innovation Research awards.

Research Education - Total Points: 20

• Share of Science and Engineering Graduates: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)
• Quality of Undergraduate Research/Creative Projects: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)
  Note: This metric is based on the U.S. News & World Report’s "Undergraduate Research/Creative Projects" ranking.

• Quality of STEM High Schools: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)
  Note: This metric is based on the U.S. News & World Report’s "Best STEM High Schools" ranking.
• Research Universities per Capita*: Full Weight (~5.00 Points)

 
Sources: Data used to create this ranking were collected from the U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Zippia, Council for Community and Economic Research, U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, National Science Foundation, Internal Revenue Service, National Institutes of Health, Milken Institute, U.S. News & World Report and National Center for Education Statistics.