Duke University research and development spending, FY2024

  • Durham, NC
  • R1
  • Private nonprofit
  • Standard form filer

Duke University in FY2024

$1.6 billion

spent on research and development in FY2024, as reported to the NSF HERD Survey

National rank
#13 of 925
Change on FY2023
up 4.8%
Rank change
down 2

Duke University reported $1.6 billion of research and development spending in FY2024, ranking #13 of the 925 institutions in the survey. That is up 4.8% on FY2023's $1.5 billion; its national rank was down 2 places. Federal government is its largest funding source at 65.8% ($1.0 billion), followed by business at 14.1%. Its largest field of research is life sciences, $1.3 billion or 83.5% of the total.

Over time

Research spending, FY2010 to FY2024

Duke University research and development expenditures, FY2010 to FY2024A line from $983.3 million in FY2010 to $1.6 billion in FY2024. Every plotted figure is in the table below.$0$395.2M$790.4M$1.2B$1.6BFY2010FY2015FY2020FY2024

Standard-form totals FY2010 onwards as revised by NCSES in the newest release; rank is within that series.

Year-by-year figures
Duke University research and development expenditures by fiscal year, NSF HERD.
Fiscal yearR&D expenditureRank in series
FY2010$983.3 million5
FY2011$1.0 billion5
FY2012$1.0 billion7
FY2013$992.8 million8
FY2014$1.0 billion7
FY2015$1.0 billion7
FY2016$1.1 billion10
FY2017$1.1 billion8
FY2018$1.2 billion10
FY2019$1.2 billion10
FY2020$1.2 billion11
FY2021$1.2 billion11
FY2022$1.4 billion9
FY2023$1.5 billion11
FY2024$1.6 billion13

FY2024 breakdown

Where the money came from, and what it paid for

FY2024 funding sources and research fields

Funding sources

The 6 NSF funding sources Duke University reported in FY2024, largest first. Shares are of its own FY2024 total, and the rank is national within that source.

Duke University research and development expenditures by funding source, NSF HERD FY2024.
SourceFY2024ShareChange on FY2023US rank
Federal government$1.0 billion65.8%+6.7%7
Business$222.7 million14.1%+1.5%2
Institution funds$197.5 million12.5%+3.4%45
Nonprofit organizations$97.7 million6.2%+1.4%18
All other sources$22.9 million1.5%−12.6%41
State and local government$340 thousand0.0%−56.0%412
All sources$1.6 billion100.0%+4.8%13

Fields of research

The 10 NSF research fields Duke University reported in FY2024, largest first.

Duke University research and development expenditures by field of research, NSF HERD FY2024.
FieldFY2024ShareChange on FY2023US rank
Life sciences$1.3 billion83.5%+4.3%6
Engineering$119.6 million7.6%+8.9%45
Social sciences$46.8 million3.0%+8.3%16
Physical sciences$31.4 million2.0%+8.0%64
Non-S&E$14.5 million0.9%−18.4%139
Computer and information sciences$14.3 million0.9%+11.8%66
Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences$13.3 million0.8%+35.9%75
Psychology$10.4 million0.7%+1.8%54
Mathematics and statistics$9.8 million0.6%+16.6%22
Other sciences$439 thousand0.0%−12.4%160

Neighbours

Ranked around Duke University

Institutions ranked immediately above and below

The five institutions ranked above Duke University and the five below it in the FY2024 national ranking.

Institutions ranked immediately above and below Duke University, NSF HERD FY2024.
RankInstitutionFY2024 R&D
8University of Washington, Seattle$1.7B
9Stanford University$1.6B
10Cornell University$1.6B
11University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, The$1.6B
12Ohio State University, The$1.6B
13Duke University$1.6B
14University of Maryland$1.5B
15Georgia Institute of Technology$1.5B
16Yale University$1.5B
17University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh$1.5B
18New York University$1.5B

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Data: NSF HERD FY2024, built from NSF's published tables on September 8, 2026. Page updated September 13, 2026.

Data: National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, National Science Foundation, Higher Education Research and Development Survey, FY2024.

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