Research expenditures by university in California, FY2024

76 institutions in California reported to the NSF HERD survey in FY2024, and together they spent $14.4 billion, 12.2% of the US total. University of California, San Francisco leads at $2.1 billion — #3 nationally, ahead of University of California, Los Angeles at $1.9 billion. 54 spent more than in FY2023, 16 spent less and 1 spent the same, and 5 more reported for the first time. The list runs down to California State University, Maritime Academy at $152 thousand; every name on it links to that institution's own page.

Institutions: 76
FY2024 R&D: $14.4 billion
Share of the US total: 12.2%

The 76 institutions in California ranked by total research and development expenditures, NSF HERD FY2024.
In California	Institution	US rank	FY2024 R&D	Change on FY2023	Rank change
1	University of California, San Francisco	#3	$2.1B	+4.0%	down 1
2	University of California, Los Angeles	#6	$1.9B	+10.1%	up 1
3	University of California, San Diego	#7	$1.9B	+10.3%	up 1
4	Stanford University	#9	$1.6B	+6.8%	up 1
5	University of Southern California	#27	$1.3B	+9.5%	up 1
6	University of California, Berkeley	#32	$1.1B	+4.6%	down 1
7	University of California, Davis	#36	$1.0B	+4.5%	down 1
8	University of California, Irvine	#57	$644.9M	+5.8%	down 1
9	Scripps Research Institute, The	#72	$501.5M	+1.3%	down 6
10	California Institute of Technology	#81	$445.2M	−9.3%	down 13
11	University of California, Santa Barbara	#111	$303.4M	−0.7%	down 6
12	University of California, Riverside	#133	$231.6M	+7.8%	up 3
13	University of California, Santa Cruz	#139	$218.4M	+7.1%	down 1
14	San Diego State University	#147	$181.6M	+14.9%	up 4
15	San Jose State University	#187	$88.1M	+5.7%	down 2
16	University of California, Office of the President	#196	$79.3M	+24.6%	up 9
17	University of California, Merced	#200	$77.2M	+24.0%	up 8
18	Naval Postgraduate School	#204	$73.2M	−5.3%	down 11
19	Chapman University	#239	$48.3M	+15.6%	up 2
20	San Francisco State University	#248	$42.0M	+21.9%	up 3
21	California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo	#252	$38.1M	+6.4%	down 4
22	California State University, Sacramento	#262	$34.0M	+21.1%	up 9
23	California State University, Long Beach	#263	$33.9M	+58.0%	up 38
24	California State University, Fullerton	#264	$33.7M	+30.6%	up 13
25	California State University, Northridge	#284	$27.0M	+1.6%	down 10
26	California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt	#285	$26.6M	+41.5%	up 30
27	Loma Linda University	#298	$23.9M	+7.3%	down 3
28	Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science	#301	$23.7M	+21.0%	up 11
29	Loyola Marymount University	#329	$15.6M	+10.5%	up 4
30	California State University, Fresno	#336	$14.4M	+26.3%	up 14
31	California State University, East Bay	#337	$14.3M	−32.9%	down 34
32	California State Polytechnic University, Pomona	#338	$13.7M	+27.6%	up 18
33	California State University, San Marcos	#347	$12.8M	+11.8%	up 2
34	University of San Diego	#350	$12.6M	−2.0%	down 10
35	California State University, Monterey Bay	#356	$11.7M	+9.7%	up 2
36	California State University, San Bernardino	#359	$11.3M	−13.8%	down 21
37	Western University of Health Sciences	#363	$11.2M	+25.3%	up 11
38	University of San Francisco	#364	$11.0M	+13.8%	up 3
39	California State University, Los Angeles	#366	$10.9M	+6.9%	down 3
40	Pepperdine University	#367	$10.9M	+2.2%	down 8
41	California State University, Chico	#386	$8.9M	+49.0%	up 37
42	California State University, Bakersfield	#392	$8.5M	+32.0%	up 19
43	Santa Clara University	#400	$8.0M	+41.1%	up 34
44	Claremont McKenna College	#406	$7.8M	+12.3%	down 2
45	California State University, Dominguez Hills	#446	$5.8M	+3.7%	down 7
46	Occidental College	#447	$5.8M	+14.4%	up 4
47	High Tech High Graduate School of Education	#454	$5.6M	−6.0%	down 29
48	Pomona College	#457	$5.5M	+33.1%	up 16
49	National University	#465	$5.0M	new	—
50	Sonoma State University	#470	$4.9M	+6.6%	down 7
51	Claremont Graduate University	#473	$4.8M	−33.8%	down 74
52	Keck Graduate Institute	#494	$4.0M	−2.1%	down 16
53	Harvey Mudd College	#498	$3.9M	+5.9%	down 6
54	California State University, Channel Islands	#502	$3.9M	−3.3%	down 22
55	Azusa Pacific University	#526	$3.4M	−44.2%	down 107
56	La Sierra University	#560	$2.7M	+7.7%	down 10
57	California State University, Stanislaus	#571	$2.4M	+5.9%	down 9
58	University of the Pacific	#578	$2.4M	+19.8%	up 4
59	Touro University, California	#579	$2.4M	−18.1%	down 55
60	California Baptist University	#589	$2.1M	+287.7%	up 180
61	Marshall B. Ketchum University	#598	$1.9M	+9.7%	down 2
62	Biola University	#616	$1.8M	+20.5%	up 13
63	Scripps College	#656	$1.4M	new	—
64	California Lutheran University	#671	$1.2M	−6.1%	down 17
65	Minerva University	#713	$916K	new	—
66	Point Loma Nazarene University	#762	$708K	+46.9%	up 29
67	Palo Alto University	#804	$509K	+7.6%	down 10
68	Pitzer College	#826	$443K	+34.2%	up 17
69	Westmont College	#830	$426K	+9.8%	down 11
70	Southern California University of Health Sciences	#837	$406K	+7.4%	down 15
71	Life Chiropractic College-West	#856	$350K	0.0%	down 21
72	California University of Science and Medicine	#879	$280K	new	—
73	Fuller Theological Seminary	#890	$242K	−10.7%	down 24
74	Whittier College	#903	$202K	−8.2%	down 20
75	California State University, System Office	#907	$197K	new	—
76	California State University, Maritime Academy	#922	$152K	−50.2%	down 69
All 76			$14.4B

Rank is a competition rank: two institutions that spent the same share a rank and the next one is skipped. Figures are NSF's own, as revised in the FY2024 release, and are shown to one decimal. How these numbers are built.

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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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