According to a recently published report by the National Science Foundation (NSF), science and engineering (S&E) employment in the United States is geographically concentrated in a small number of states. Furthermore, several major metropolitan areas within these states account for the highest S&E employment.
Employment in science and engineering occupations, by PUMA: 2011a
PUMA = public use microdata area; S&E = science and engineering.
a Table selection extracted from Table 2 in the NSF Information Brief, “Regional Concentrations of Scientists and Engineers in the United States,” NSF 13-330, August 2013.
b In Massachusetts, employment PUMA 3200 covers part of Middlesex County and employment PUMA 3300 covers part of Suffolk County.
SOURCE: Census Bureau, American Community Survey public use microdata sample files, 2011.
California, Texas, and New York together accounted for more than one-fourth of all S&E employment. The states of Florida, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Ohio accounted for almost another one-fourth. In the physical sciences, high levels of employment were found in areas in the vicinity of Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Clara, and Oakland, all in California, as well as in Denver, Boston, Houston, and Montgomery County, Md.
According to NSF, S&E expertise is an integral part of a region’s capacity to innovate because of the scientists’ and engineers’ high skill levels, creative ideas, and contributions to scientific knowledge and to research and development.
The data are from the US Census Bureau’s 2011 American Community Survey (ACS). Out of the 5.7 million workers employed in S&E, about 368,000 reported being in the physical sciences.
