University of California, San Diego research and development spending, FY2024

  • La Jolla, CA
  • R1
  • Public
  • Standard form filer

University of California, San Diego in FY2024

$1.9 billion

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

National rank
#7 of 925
Change on FY2023
up 10.3%
Rank change
up 1

University of California, San Diego reported $1.9 billion of research and development spending in FY2024, ranking #7 of the 925 institutions in the survey. That is up 10.3% on FY2023's $1.7 billion; its national rank was up 1 place. Federal government is its largest funding source at 61.2% ($1.2 billion), followed by institution funds at 16.9%. Its largest field of research is life sciences, $1.1 billion or 60.9% of the total.

Over time

Research spending, FY2010 to FY2024

University of California, San Diego research and development expenditures, FY2010 to FY2024A line from $943.2 million in FY2010 to $1.9 billion in FY2024. Every plotted figure is in the table below.$0$470.3M$940.6M$1.4B$1.9BFY2010FY2015FY2020FY2024

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

Year-by-year figures
University of California, San Diego research and development expenditures by fiscal year, NSF HERD.
Fiscal yearR&D expenditureRank in series
FY2010$943.2 million6
FY2011$1.0 billion6
FY2012$1.1 billion5
FY2013$1.1 billion5
FY2014$1.1 billion6
FY2015$1.1 billion5
FY2016$1.1 billion7
FY2017$1.1 billion7
FY2018$1.3 billion7
FY2019$1.4 billion6
FY2020$1.4 billion6
FY2021$1.4 billion7
FY2022$1.5 billion7
FY2023$1.7 billion8
FY2024$1.9 billion7

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

University of California, San Diego research and development expenditures by funding source, NSF HERD FY2024.
SourceFY2024ShareChange on FY2023US rank
Federal government$1.2 billion61.2%+6.2%4
Institution funds$317.0 million16.9%+26.3%22
All other sources$125.0 million6.6%+32.9%8
Nonprofit organizations$110.6 million5.9%+1.1%15
Business$100.8 million5.4%+4.5%15
State and local government$76.3 million4.1%+7.8%18
All sources$1.9 billion100.0%+10.3%7

Fields of research

The 10 NSF research fields University of California, San Diego reported in FY2024, largest first.

University of California, San Diego research and development expenditures by field of research, NSF HERD FY2024.
FieldFY2024ShareChange on FY2023US rank
Life sciences$1.1 billion60.9%+9.7%13
Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences$271.5 million14.4%+10.7%1
Engineering$250.8 million13.3%+41.9%16
Physical sciences$103.9 million5.5%−2.0%17
Non-S&E$46.7 million2.5%−12.7%54
Social sciences$32.5 million1.7%+38.0%29
Psychology$13.9 million0.7%+2.2%37
Computer and information sciences$9.6 million0.5%−74.5%96
Mathematics and statistics$6.2 million0.3%+12.9%42
Other sciences$705 thousand0.0%137

Neighbours

Ranked around University of California, San Diego

Institutions ranked immediately above and below

The five institutions ranked above University of California, San Diego and the five below it in the FY2024 national ranking.

Institutions ranked immediately above and below University of California, San Diego, NSF HERD FY2024.
RankInstitutionFY2024 R&D
2University of Pennsylvania$2.2B
3University of California, San Francisco$2.1B
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

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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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