Research expenditures by university in Illinois, FY2024

31 institutions in Illinois reported to the NSF HERD survey in FY2024, and together they spent $3.8 billion, 3.3% of the US total. Northwestern University leads at $1.3 billion — #28 nationally, half as much again as University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's $906.8 million. 20 spent more than in FY2023 and 8 spent less, and 3 more reported for the first time. The list runs down to National University of Health Sciences at $300 thousand; every name on it links to that institution's own page.

Institutions: 31
FY2024 R&D: $3.8 billion
Share of the US total: 3.3%

The 31 institutions in Illinois ranked by total research and development expenditures, NSF HERD FY2024.
In Illinois	Institution	US rank	FY2024 R&D	Change on FY2023	Rank change
1	Northwestern University	#28	$1.3B	+12.9%	up 1
2	University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign	#40	$906.8M	+10.4%	up 3
3	University of Chicago, The	#54	$680.8M	+8.3%	held
4	University of Illinois Chicago	#66	$532.2M	+8.0%	up 1
5	Rush University	#165	$139.3M	+5.2%	held
6	Southern Illinois University, Carbondale	#220	$61.5M	+5.4%	down 3
7	Loyola University Chicago	#221	$61.5M	+17.2%	up 7
8	Illinois Institute of Technology	#253	$38.0M	+15.0%	up 2
9	Northern Illinois University	#259	$34.5M	+18.3%	up 8
10	Illinois State University	#260	$34.2M	+3.9%	down 4
11	Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville	#320	$17.7M	−19.4%	down 23
12	Midwestern University	#339	$13.6M	+7.1%	up 3
13	Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science	#354	$11.8M	+1.2%	down 8
14	DePaul University	#371	$10.5M	−20.7%	down 35
15	Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago	#467	$5.0M	+7.5%	down 6
16	Western Illinois University	#490	$4.1M	+8.3%	down 5
17	National Louis University	#493	$4.0M	new	—
18	Northeastern Illinois University	#550	$2.8M	+25.7%	up 16
19	Chicago State University	#558	$2.7M	−28.1%	down 69
20	University of Illinois at Springfield	#567	$2.6M	+1.8%	down 19
21	Erikson Institute	#606	$1.9M	−21.7%	down 51
22	Wheaton College, Wheaton	#648	$1.4M	−39.9%	down 92
23	Roosevelt University	#653	$1.4M	new	—
24	Eastern Illinois University	#668	$1.2M	+42.9%	up 36
25	Illinois College of Optometry	#679	$1.2M	−12.5%	down 32
26	Bradley University	#695	$1.1M	+254.2%	up 161
27	Lake Forest College	#781	$617K	+9.8%	down 14
28	Elmhurst University	#798	$526K	−14.2%	down 43
29	Benedictine University	#819	$461K	−5.7%	down 31
30	Augustana College	#838	$405K	+15.4%	down 5
31	National University of Health Sciences	#873	$300K	new	—
All 31			$3.8B

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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