University of Iowa research and development spending, FY2024

  • Iowa City, IA
  • R1
  • Public
  • Standard form filer

University of Iowa in FY2024

$703.3 million

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

National rank
#53 of 925
Change on FY2023
up 6.2%
Rank change
down 2

University of Iowa reported $703.3 million of research and development spending in FY2024, ranking #53 of the 925 institutions in the survey. That is up 6.2% on FY2023's $662.1 million; its national rank was down 2 places. Federal government is its largest funding source at 48.1% ($338.6 million), followed by institution funds at 35.8%. Its largest field of research is life sciences, $512.5 million or 72.9% of the total.

Over time

Research spending, FY2010 to FY2024

University of Iowa research and development expenditures, FY2010 to FY2024A line from $444.0 million in FY2010 to $703.3 million in FY2024. Every plotted figure is in the table below.$0$175.8M$351.7M$527.5M$703.3MFY2010FY2015FY2020FY2024

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

Year-by-year figures
University of Iowa research and development expenditures by fiscal year, NSF HERD.
Fiscal yearR&D expenditureRank in series
FY2010$444.0 million38
FY2011$443.9 million42
FY2012$446.4 million41
FY2013$435.4 million46
FY2014$449.1 million44
FY2015$443.2 million48
FY2016$473.4 million47
FY2017$494.3 million48
FY2018$512.0 million48
FY2019$508.4 million52
FY2020$538.6 million51
FY2021$553.9 million50
FY2022$594.2 million52
FY2023$662.1 million51
FY2024$703.3 million53

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

University of Iowa research and development expenditures by funding source, NSF HERD FY2024.
SourceFY2024ShareChange on FY2023US rank
Federal government$338.6 million48.1%+2.1%58
Institution funds$251.5 million35.8%+9.9%36
All other sources$40.7 million5.8%+14.8%22
Business$39.2 million5.6%+15.2%53
Nonprofit organizations$28.0 million4.0%+15.0%70
State and local government$5.3 million0.8%−30.8%164
All sources$703.3 million100.0%+6.2%53

Fields of research

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

University of Iowa research and development expenditures by field of research, NSF HERD FY2024.
FieldFY2024ShareChange on FY2023US rank
Life sciences$512.5 million72.9%+7.0%41
Physical sciences$61.8 million8.8%−3.1%34
Engineering$58.0 million8.3%+0.8%89
Non-S&E$38.6 million5.5%+6.4%66
Psychology$13.7 million1.9%+31.2%39
Social sciences$5.0 million0.7%+20.0%146
Computer and information sciences$4.5 million0.6%+12.1%144
Other sciences$4.5 million0.6%+76.5%64
Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences$3.6 million0.5%+4.2%152
Mathematics and statistics$1.2 million0.2%+7.7%156

Neighbours

Ranked around University of Iowa

Institutions ranked immediately above and below

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

Institutions ranked immediately above and below University of Iowa, NSF HERD FY2024.
RankInstitutionFY2024 R&D
48Boston University$784.4M
49University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus$741.6M
50University of Cincinnati$739.9M
51University of Colorado Boulder$717.9M
52North Carolina State University$717.0M
53University of Iowa$703.3M
54University of Chicago, The$680.8M
55University of Nebraska, Lincoln and Medical Center$657.5M
56Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University$656.9M
57University of California, Irvine$644.9M
58Case Western Reserve University$642.5M

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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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