California Companies Lead Nation in R&D Spending and Performance

According to a new report from the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, California spent $77 billion on self-funded business research and development (R&D), accounting for 30% of the total  $255 billion of R&D companies conducted and paid for in the United States in 2013.

California is up 5% on R&D spending from the last study performed five years ago. In fact, from 2008 to 2013, California’s R&D performance was growing at a quicker rate than its economy as a whole. This resulted in its ratio of business R&D to GDP to escalate from 2.8% to 3.5%.

Within California, the top two areas of self-funded business R&D performance include the San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland area and the Los Angeles-Long Beach area. No single industry dominated in the Los Angeles-Long Beach area, but to no-one’s surprise, computer and electronics manufacturing reigned king in the San Jose-San Francisco- Oakland area.

California isn’t the only state paying big bucks when it comes to research and development. Interestingly enough, only five states make up over half of the total $255 billion spend. The other four include Massachusetts, Michigan, Texas and Washington.

The top ten business R&D performance states are:

1. California – $77 billion
2. Massachusetts – $14 billion
3. Michigan – $14 billion
4. Washington – $14 billion
5. Texas – $13 billion
6. Illinois- $12 billion
7. New Jersey – $12 billion
8. Pennsylvania – $10 billion
9. New York – $9 billion
10. Minnesota – $6 billion

If you’re a business that pays for and performs R&D in your state, contact us to find out what type of benefits you could receive in the form of tax credits. Click here to learn if your state offers an R&D tax credit on the state level.