Degrees Granted in Science and Engineering

A weighted measure of the degrees granted in scientific and technical fields as a share of the workforce.27

Why Is This Important? In the New Economy, the key engines of growth - technology and research-based companies and industries - are fueled by a large and high-caliber scientific and engineering workforce. Moreover, there is a critical shortage of scientists, engineers, and computer programmers, as demand surges while supply graduating from United States' universities stagnates, or even in some cases declines. So growing a high-quality, scientific workforce is critical to boosting innovation and productivity.

The Rankings: With the exception of Boston, which has more students enrolled in colleges than any other metro area, the top-ranked metros tend to be smaller "college towns" with large research universities, such as Research Triangle Park (Duke, UNC, NC State), Austin (University of Texas), and Buffalo (SUNY Buffalo). The Northeastern metropolitan areas lead the nation. Metro areas that lag behind tend to be in the South and Southwest, which with a few exceptions (Raleigh, Austin, Atlanta) do not have leading research universities. This lack of top-flight universities hampers the ability of metros in these regions to prosper.

Degrees Granted in Science and Engineering

		100th-76th Percentile
		75th-51st Percentile
		50th-26th Percentile
		25th-1st Percentile

METRO AREAS BY RANK
Rank	Metro Area	Score
1	Raleigh-Durham	12.9
2	Austin	11.8
3	Boston	11.3
4	Buffalo	11.2
5	Dayton	11.1
6	Rochester	11.1
7	Columbus	10.8
8	Pittsburgh	10.7
9	Hartford	10.6
10	Sacramento	10.5
11	Washington	10.5
12	Denver	10.5
13	Oklahoma City	10.4
14	Detroit	10.3
15	St. Louis	10.3
16	Philadelphia	10.2
17	New Orleans	10.2
18	Norfolk	10.2
19	San Diego	10.2
20	New York	10.1
21	Cincinnati	10.0
22	Salt Lake City	10.0
23	Nashville	9.9
24	Cleveland	9.9
25	Chicago	9.9
26	Richmond	9.8
27	Minneapolis	9.8
28	Greensboro	9.8
29	San Francisco	9.7
30	Los Angeles	9.7
31	Seattle	9.7
32	Atlanta	9.7
33	Tampa	9.6
34	Milwaukee	9.6
35	San Antonio	9.6
36	Portland	9.6
37	Indianapolis	9.6
38	Phoenix	9.5
39	Orlando	9.5
40	Miami	9.5
41	West Palm Beach	9.4
42	Louisville	9.4
43	Grand Rapids	9.3
44	Dallas	9.3
45	Kansas City	9.3
46	Memphis	9.3
47	Houston	9.3
48	Charlotte	9.3
49	Jacksonville	9.0
50	Las Vegas	8.7
	U.S. Average	4.4
	Top 50 Metro Average	10.0

ALPHABETICALLY
Metro Area	Rank	Score
Atlanta	32	9.7
Austin	2	11.8
Boston	3	11.3
Buffalo	4	11.2
Charlotte	48	9.3
Chicago	25	9.9
Cincinnati	21	10.0
Cleveland	24	9.9
Columbus	7	10.8
Dallas	44	9.3
Dayton	5	11.1
Denver	12	10.5
Detroit	14	10.3
Grand Rapids	43	9.3
Greensboro	28	9.8
Hartford	9	10.6
Houston	47	9.3
Indianapolis	37	9.6
Jacksonville	49	9.0
Kansas City	45	9.3
Las Vegas	50	8.7
Los Angeles	30	9.7
Louisville	42	9.4
Memphis	46	9.3
Miami	40	9.5
Milwaukee	34	9.6
Minneapolis	27	9.8
Nashville	23	9.9
New Orleans	17	10.2
New York	20	10.1
Norfolk	18	10.2
Oklahoma City	13	10.4
Orlando	39	9.5
Philadelphia	16	10.2
Phoenix	38	9.5
Pittsburgh	8	10.7
Portland	36	9.6
Raleigh-Durham	1	12.9
Richmond	26	9.8
Rochester	6	11.1
Sacramento	10	10.5
Salt Lake City	22	10.0
San Antonio	35	9.6
San Diego	19	10.2
San Francisco	29	9.7
Seattle	31	9.7
St. Louis	15	10.3
Tampa	33	9.6
Washington	11	10.5
West Palm Beach	41	9.4

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The Progressive Policy Institute (PPI)
Technology, Innovation, and New Economy Project
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Phone: (202) 547-0001
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