Stanford University research and development spending, FY2024

  • Stanford, CA
  • R1
  • Private nonprofit
  • Standard form filer

Stanford University in FY2024

$1.6 billion

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

National rank
#9 of 925
Change on FY2023
up 6.8%
Rank change
up 1

Stanford University reported $1.6 billion of research and development spending in FY2024, ranking #9 of the 925 institutions in the survey. That is up 6.8% on FY2023's $1.5 billion; its national rank was up 1 place. Federal government is its largest funding source at 61.7% ($1.0 billion), followed by nonprofit organizations at 13.3%. Its largest field of research is life sciences, $1.2 billion or 73.2% of the total.

Over time

Research spending, FY2010 to FY2024

Stanford University research and development expenditures, FY2010 to FY2024A line from $839.8 million in FY2010 to $1.6 billion in FY2024. Every plotted figure is in the table below.$0$410.5M$821.0M$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
Stanford University research and development expenditures by fiscal year, NSF HERD.
Fiscal yearR&D expenditureRank in series
FY2010$839.8 million9
FY2011$908.0 million9
FY2012$903.2 million9
FY2013$945.5 million11
FY2014$959.2 million9
FY2015$1.0 billion8
FY2016$1.1 billion9
FY2017$1.1 billion10
FY2018$1.2 billion11
FY2019$1.2 billion11
FY2020$1.2 billion10
FY2021$1.3 billion9
FY2022$1.4 billion10
FY2023$1.5 billion10
FY2024$1.6 billion9

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 Stanford University reported in FY2024, largest first. Shares are of its own FY2024 total, and the rank is national within that source.

Stanford University research and development expenditures by funding source, NSF HERD FY2024.
SourceFY2024ShareChange on FY2023US rank
Federal government$1.0 billion61.7%+7.3%10
Nonprofit organizations$218.8 million13.3%−0.4%2
Institution funds$207.7 million12.7%+9.9%40
Business$152.2 million9.3%+5.5%7
State and local government$39.6 million2.4%+24.1%42
All other sources$10.9 million0.7%+16.6%67
All sources$1.6 billion100.0%+6.8%9

Fields of research

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

Stanford University research and development expenditures by field of research, NSF HERD FY2024.
FieldFY2024ShareChange on FY2023US rank
Life sciences$1.2 billion73.2%+7.4%10
Engineering$164.5 million10.0%+3.5%26
Physical sciences$103.7 million6.3%−0.1%18
Non-S&E$57.2 million3.5%+17.4%38
Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences$39.4 million2.4%+11.7%28
Computer and information sciences$28.4 million1.7%+1.9%35
Social sciences$23.6 million1.4%+2.7%43
Psychology$14.3 million0.9%+1.2%33
Mathematics and statistics$7.7 million0.5%+19.2%34
Other sciences$693 thousand0.0%+209.4%138

Neighbours

Ranked around Stanford University

Institutions ranked immediately above and below

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

Institutions ranked immediately above and below Stanford University, NSF HERD FY2024.
RankInstitutionFY2024 R&D
4University of Michigan, Ann Arbor$2.1B
5University of Wisconsin-Madison$1.9B
6University of California, Los Angeles$1.9B
7University of California, San Diego$1.9B
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

Benchmark Stanford University against its peers.

Request a demo

Or see how it pairs with FundFit →

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.

Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.