Business research statistics at a glance
Business research sits at the intersection of spending, scale, and innovation. The 2022 data in this set shows how quickly business R&D concentrates in large firms, in a few states, and in a handful of industries.
Fast facts
- U.S. companies that performed or funded business R&D reported $691,547 million in total business R&D spending in 2022 (BERD 2022 Table 3).
- Those companies reported $14,184,308 million in domestic net sales in 2022 (BERD 2022 Table 3).
- Their R&D intensity was 4.9% in 2022 (BERD 2022 Table 3).
- They employed 24.092 million people domestically and 2.110 million R&D employees in 2022 (BERD 2022 Table 3).
- California alone accounted for $235,556 million of U.S. business R&D in 2022 and 34.1% of the national total (BERD 2022 Table 5; BERD 2022 summary).
Contents
- How large business research spending is
- Which sectors spend the most
- What company size means for R&D
- Innovation signals from the ABS
- Who files and who does not
- What the workforce numbers say
- Where business research is concentrated geographically
How large business research spending is
The broadest number in the dataset is the scale of U.S. business research itself. Companies that performed or funded business R&D reported $691,547 million in spending in 2022, against $14,184,308 million in domestic net sales, which produces an overall R&D intensity of 4.9% (BERD 2022 Table 3).
That one ratio is useful because it turns an absolute spending figure into something comparable. A 4.9% intensity means business research is not just a small add-on to operating budgets. It is a persistent claim on revenue across the firms that do it.
Core business-wide metrics
| Measure | 2022 value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Domestic net sales | $14,184,308 million | BERD 2022 Table 3 |
| Total business R&D spending | $691,547 million | BERD 2022 Table 3 |
| R&D intensity | 4.9% | BERD 2022 Table 3 |
| Domestic employment | 24.092 million | BERD 2022 Table 3 |
| Total R&D workforce | 2.110 million | BERD 2022 Table 3 |
The same table also shows how labor-intensive business research is. The companies in scope employed 24.092 million people domestically and 2.110 million R&D workers in 2022 (BERD 2022 Table 3). That is a large research workforce by any commercial standard, especially because it sits inside companies that also have to sell, manufacture, market, and support products at scale.
Which sectors spend the most
The dataset makes clear that business research spending is highly uneven across sectors. Manufacturing firms accounted for $372,459 million in business R&D spending in 2022, while nonmanufacturing firms accounted for $319,088 million (BERD 2022 Table 3). That is close enough to show that both sides matter, but manufacturing still held the edge in total spend.
Manufacturing also posted $7,322,263 million in domestic net sales and a 5.1% R&D intensity, slightly above the overall business figure (BERD 2022 Table 3). Nonmanufacturing firms reported $6,862,045 million in domestic net sales and a 4.7% R&D intensity (BERD 2022 Table 3). The gap is not huge, but it suggests manufacturing still carries a somewhat heavier research load relative to sales.
Sector comparison
| Sector | Domestic net sales | R&D spending | R&D intensity | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing | $7,322,263 million | $372,459 million | 5.1% | BERD 2022 Table 3 |
| Nonmanufacturing | $6,862,045 million | $319,088 million | 4.7% | BERD 2022 Table 3 |
Some of the most research-heavy industries sit inside these broad groupings. Pharmaceuticals and medicines reported $685,744 million in domestic net sales, $116,073 million in R&D spending, and 16.9% R&D intensity in 2022 (BERD 2022 Table 3). That is a very different profile from the manufacturing average.
Semiconductor and other electronic products are even more intense, with $49,330 million in R&D spending and 23.5% R&D intensity in 2022 (BERD 2022 Table 3). Scientific research and development services reached 29.0% R&D intensity in 2022, which is the highest explicitly named intensity in this dataset among the service industries listed here (BERD 2022 Table 3).
High-intensity industries worth noticing
- Pharmaceuticals and medicines: 16.9% R&D intensity, $116,073 million in spending (BERD 2022 Table 3).
- Computer and electronic products: 14.3% R&D intensity, $104,718 million in spending (BERD 2022 Table 3).
- Semiconductor and other electronic products: 23.5% R&D intensity, $49,330 million in spending (BERD 2022 Table 3).
- Scientific research and development services: 29.0% R&D intensity (BERD 2022 Table 3).
- Software publishers: 13.7% R&D intensity, $50,295 million in spending (BERD 2022 Table 3).
The pattern is straightforward. Industries built around intellectual property, product design, and technical complexity tend to spend more of every sales dollar on research. Industries with heavier manufacturing footprints spend a lot in absolute terms, but not always at the same intensity.
What company size means for R&D
Company size changes the research profile in a major way. The dataset splits spending by employment bands, and the largest firms account for the most dollars by far. Companies with 25,000 or more domestic employees spent $282,756 million on R&D in 2022, the biggest single size-bucket amount in the table (BERD 2022 Table 3).
That said, the most striking feature is not just the total spend of the biggest firms. It is how the intensity shifts across size classes. Companies with 10 to 249 domestic employees had 8.8% R&D intensity in 2022, while companies with 250 to 24,999 domestic employees had 4.6%, and companies with 25,000 or more domestic employees had 4.7% (BERD 2022 Table 3). Small and mid-sized firms can therefore look more research-heavy relative to sales even when their absolute spending is much lower.
Size-bucket spending snapshot
| Employee band | R&D spending | R&D intensity | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 to 19 employees | $5,277 million | not listed | BERD 2022 Table 3 |
| 20 to 49 employees | $14,695 million | not listed | BERD 2022 Table 3 |
| 50 to 99 employees | $15,265 million | not listed | BERD 2022 Table 3 |
| 100 to 249 employees | $27,847 million | not listed | BERD 2022 Table 3 |
| 250 to 499 employees | $29,549 million | not listed | BERD 2022 Table 3 |
| 500 to 999 employees | $31,802 million | not listed | BERD 2022 Table 3 |
| 1,000 to 4,999 employees | $104,505 million | not listed | BERD 2022 Table 3 |
| 5,000 to 9,999 employees | $58,709 million | not listed | BERD 2022 Table 3 |
| 10,000 to 24,999 employees | $121,142 million | not listed | BERD 2022 Table 3 |
| 25,000 or more employees | $282,756 million | 4.7% | BERD 2022 Table 3 |
A useful way to read that table is to separate scale from concentration. Large firms dominate absolute spending because they have the broadest operations. But smaller firms can still be aggressive research performers relative to their revenue base. That matters if you are comparing innovation behavior across startups, growth-stage firms, and mature enterprises.
Innovation signals from the ABS
The Annual Business Survey adds a different lens. Instead of only measuring R&D spending, it shows how innovation appears across the business population. In the ABS 2022 data year, all industries had 4,937,279 companies (ABS 2023 Table 22). Out of that total, 481,394 companies reported product innovation, which equals 9.8% of all companies (ABS 2023 Table 22).
That is a useful counterweight to the business R&D totals. It reminds you that innovation is broader than formal R&D budgets. Many firms innovate without appearing in the largest R&D spend categories. At the same time, the percentage is still below 10%, which shows product innovation is far from universal across the whole company population.
Business process innovation is more common. The ABS 2022 data year shows 983,747 companies with business process innovation, equal to 19.9% of all companies (ABS 2023 Table 24). That is roughly twice the product-innovation rate. In plain terms, process change appears to be a more widespread form of innovation than new-product work.
Innovation rates side by side
| Measure | Companies | Share of all companies | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Product innovation | 481,394 | 9.8% | ABS 2023 Table 22 |
| Business process innovation | 983,747 | 19.9% | ABS 2023 Table 24 |
The size breakdown in the ABS adds another important pattern. Micro companies with 1 to 4 employees included 2,779,797 companies, and 241,034 of them reported product innovation, which works out to an 8.7% product-innovation rate (ABS 2023 Table 23). Companies with 5 to 9 employees had a 10.9% product-innovation rate (ABS 2023 Table 23). Companies with 250 to 499 employees had a 13.3% product-innovation rate, and companies with 25,000 or more employees had a 29.3% product-innovation rate, the highest rate in that table (ABS 2023 Table 23).
This is one of the clearest size stories in the dataset. The bigger the company class, the more likely it is to report product innovation. That does not mean small companies are inactive. It means the most expansive innovation footprints cluster at the top of the employment scale.
Who files and who does not
One of the more practical ABS tables looks at whether companies needed additional financing. For all companies in the ABS 2022 data year, 7.2% needed additional financing but chose not to apply, 9.6% needed additional financing and did apply, and 83.2% did not need additional financing (ABS 2023 Table 61).
These figures matter because financing behavior can affect whether research ideas turn into implemented products, process upgrades, or formal R&D projects. A company that needs funding but does not apply may be facing a different innovation constraint than one that simply does not need outside capital.
The size pattern again matters. Companies with 5 to 9 employees had 8.3% that needed additional financing but chose not to apply, and 11.5% that needed additional financing and did apply (ABS 2023 Table 61). Companies with 25,000 or more employees had 23.8% that needed additional financing and did apply (ABS 2023 Table 61). That does not tell you everything about financing demand, but it does show that large firms can still be active capital seekers when they are pursuing growth or research projects.
Financing status at a glance
- All companies: 83.2% did not need additional financing (ABS 2023 Table 61).
- All companies: 9.6% needed additional financing and did apply (ABS 2023 Table 61).
- All companies: 7.2% needed additional financing but did not apply (ABS 2023 Table 61).
What the workforce numbers say
The workforce side of business research is large enough to stand on its own. The companies that performed or funded business R&D employed 2.110 million R&D workers in 2022 (BERD 2022 Table 3 and Table 4). Of those, 1.441 million were researchers, 143,000 had PhD degrees, and the full-time equivalent researcher count was 1.316 million (BERD 2022 Table 4).
The composition of that workforce matters as much as the size. The dataset says 1.501 million of the R&D workers were men and 0.609 million were women (BERD 2022 Table 4). That split is informative because it puts a concrete workforce number behind a conversation that is often discussed only in abstract terms.
Research workforce summary
| Workforce measure | 2022 value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Total R&D workers | 2.110 million | BERD 2022 Table 3 and Table 4 |
| Researchers | 1.441 million | BERD 2022 Table 4 |
| PhD-degree R&D workers | 143,000 | BERD 2022 Table 4 |
| Full-time equivalent researchers | 1.316 million | BERD 2022 Table 4 |
| Men | 1.501 million | BERD 2022 Table 4 |
| Women | 0.609 million | BERD 2022 Table 4 |
The workforce numbers also reinforce the scale point. Business research is not an abstract line on a budget sheet. It is an employment engine that spans scientists, engineers, analysts, product specialists, and related technical roles. When more than two million workers are tied to business R&D, even small changes in spending can have large effects on how firms organize work.
Where business research is concentrated geographically
The geographic table is one of the sharpest concentration stories in the dataset. California accounted for $235,556 million of U.S. business R&D in 2022 and represented 34.1% of national business R&D (BERD 2022 Table 5; BERD 2022 summary). That means more than a third of the national total sits in one state.
Washington was next at $57,295 million and 8.3% of the national total (BERD 2022 Table 5; BERD 2022 summary). Massachusetts followed at $49,732 million and 7.2% (BERD 2022 Table 5; BERD 2022 summary). New York, Texas, and New Jersey also cleared large totals, with $32,196 million, $31,365 million, and $26,511 million respectively (BERD 2022 Table 5; BERD 2022 summary).
Top state totals
| State | Business R&D | Share of U.S. total | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | $235,556 million | 34.1% | BERD 2022 Table 5; BERD 2022 summary |
| Washington | $57,295 million | 8.3% | BERD 2022 Table 5; BERD 2022 summary |
| Massachusetts | $49,732 million | 7.2% | BERD 2022 Table 5; BERD 2022 summary |
| New York | $32,196 million | 4.7% | BERD 2022 Table 5; BERD 2022 summary |
| Texas | $31,365 million | 4.5% | BERD 2022 Table 5; BERD 2022 summary |
| New Jersey | $26,511 million | 3.8% | BERD 2022 Table 5; BERD 2022 summary |
That table shows a familiar pattern, but the scale is still striking. The top three states alone account for a very large share of U.S. business R&D. The implication is not just that research is clustered. It is that local ecosystems matter a great deal for where corporate innovation jobs, supplier relationships, and technical talent accumulate.
The tail of the geographic table matters too. Florida accounted for $11,509 million, Illinois for $18,061 million, North Carolina for $16,541 million, Ohio for $13,759 million, Pennsylvania for $20,624 million, and undistributed funds totaled $765 million in 2022 (BERD 2022 Table 5). These are smaller than California by a wide margin, but they still represent meaningful regional research activity.
Reading the pattern together
Taken together, the dataset points to three broad truths. First, business research is large in absolute terms, with $691,547 million in spending and 2.110 million R&D workers in 2022 (BERD 2022 Table 3 and Table 4). Second, it is unevenly distributed, with intense concentration in California and in sectors such as pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, and scientific research services (BERD 2022 Table 3; BERD 2022 Table 5; BERD 2022 summary). Third, innovation is broader than formal R&D, as shown by the ABS product-innovation and process-innovation rates across millions of companies (ABS 2023 Table 22; ABS 2023 Table 24).
If you want a single takeaway, it is this: business research is not a niche activity hidden inside a few labs. It is a large, distributed, and highly uneven system that follows revenue, firm size, industry structure, and geography at the same time.