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, ranked #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%
Universities in Illinois ranked, FY2024
| In Illinois | Institution | US rank | FY2024 R&D | Change on FY2023 | US 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 | ||||
US rank change is the move in the national list, not in this page's own order.
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.
Keep going
The rest of the survey
Overall
Every state and territory
Data: NSF HERD FY2024, published December 23, 2025. Page updated October 9, 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.