Follow the Money: Top U.S. Cities for Academic Research Spending

The National Science Foundation has ranked the top ten U.S. cities in university and college research spending in 2004 in a detailed report which you can view in PDF form here (dollars in thousands).[1] According to the report (p. 118), the total R&D expenditures for all academic institutions was just over $42 billion, with roughly $30 billion of that coming from state and federal sources, $2.1 billion from industry, and $7.8 billion from institutional funds.

1. Baltimore, MD--$1,750,904[2]

2. Los Angeles, CA--$1,527,602

3. Boston, MA--$1,521,001

4. New York, NY--$1,512,632

5. Philadelphia, PA--$1,475,536

6. San Francisco, CA--$1,388,218[3]

7. Chicago, IL--$1,105,317

8. Houston, TX--$1,099,652

9. Durham/Chapel Hill, NC--$937,598

10. Atlanta, GA--$784,330

Note:
1. Includes universities and colleges within a 20-mile radius of each city center.
2. Includes Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory, which spent $670 million on R&D.
3. Not including Stanford University. If Stanford was included, the figure would be 2,059,264, which would place San Francisco at the top of the list.