Federal R&D is highly concentrated among a few states, with funding flowing to states with major federal research facilities such as NASA Centers, DoE National Laboratories or major research universities.
According to a recent report by the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, ten states (nine + the District of Columbia) receive the lion’s share of federal R&D funding, combining for 57% ($71.7 billion) in fiscal year 2015 . Maryland, home of HHS’s National Institutes of Health (NIH), was the top state recipient at $16.8 billion and received 48% of its funding from HHS. California was the second highest recipient at $15.3 billion and received most of its funding (93%) from DOD, DOE, HHS and NASA. Virginia ranked third, receiving $7.5 billion with 77% coming from DOD.