R&D Funding Trends Over Time 

R&D funding has varied over time, although it has experienced significant historical increases amidst NASA’s Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs in the 1950s, and defense increases during the Cold War under the Administration of President Ronald Reagan (according to an annotated history of R&D by NSF’s National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics). More recent increases occurred in response to the COVID-19 pandemic under the Administrations of President Donald J. Trump and Joseph R. Biden, although current spending has now dropped below the pre-COVID funding levels (FY2020 R&D = $164.5 billion; FY2024 R&D = $160.3 billion).  

Source: National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Survey of Federal Funds for Research and Development. 

Note: 2024 data are preliminary. The federal government incurs an “obligation” when it enters into a legally binding financial agreement (through contracts, loans, grants, etc.), usually over a specified time period (Office of Management and Budget, 2021).