State Rankings

Which states lead in patent activity?

Rank	Name	Total Patents Total utility patents granted by the USPTO (2016 – 2025). Source: USPTO PatentsView.	Top Category The technology area with the most patent grants. Click a badge to filter the table.	Growth Year-over-year change in patent grants comparing the two most recent complete calendar years (2023 vs 2024).	GDP State gross domestic product. Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis via FRED.	Pat/$B Patents per billion dollars of GDP. Higher = more innovation-intensive economy.	Median Income Median household income. Source: U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey.	Bachelor's+ Percentage of adults 25+ with a bachelor’s degree or higher. Source: Census ACS.	NIH Grants Active National Institutes of Health research grants. Source: NIH RePORTER.	SBIR Small Business Innovation Research & STTR awards (all–time cumulative). Source: SBIR.gov.
1	California	552,462	software & computing	-1.8%	$4.0T	136	$95,521	37.5%	10,839	43,784
2	Texas	152,241	software & computing	-0.2%	$2.8T	55	$75,780	34.2%	4,445	9,438
3	New York	127,717	software & computing	+1.6%	$2.3T	55	$82,095	40.6%	7,530	9,396
4	Massachusetts	113,248	software & computing	+1.2%	$779B	145	$99,858	47.8%	6,875	26,652
5	Washington	99,364	software & computing	-2.7%	$856B	116	$94,605	40.5%	2,213	4,720
6	Michigan	79,519	mechanical & manufacturing	-4.3%	$702B	113	$69,183	32.7%	2,461	4,363
7	Illinois	74,922	software & computing	+0.5%	$1.1T	65	$80,306	38.3%	2,870	3,931
8	New Jersey	73,125	electronics & semiconductors	-1.6%	$846B	86	$99,781	43.8%	906	5,200
9	Florida	68,123	biotech & life sciences	+3.2%	$1.7T	39	$73,311	34.9%	2,021	5,827
10	Pennsylvania	67,792	biotech & life sciences	+4.0%	$1.0T	67	$73,824	35.3%	4,936	7,837
11	Ohio	58,678	biotech & life sciences	+1.6%	$923B	64	$67,769	32.0%	2,447	8,255
12	North Carolina	56,215	software & computing	+1.3%	$844B	67	$70,804	36.8%	3,417	4,415
13	Minnesota	53,926	biotech & life sciences	+3.7%	$508B	106	$85,086	40.0%	1,628	2,950
14	Oregon	50,010	software & computing	-3.7%	$330B	151	$80,160	37.7%	963	2,826
15	Colorado	48,503	software & computing	+0.4%	$558B	87	$92,911	46.4%	1,517	9,921
16	Virginia	40,753	software & computing	-2.1%	$762B	54	$89,931	42.4%	1,281	12,690
17	Arizona	40,206	software & computing	+1.1%	$570B	71	$77,315	33.5%	829	3,760
18	Connecticut	39,953	software & computing	-1.6%	$357B	112	$91,665	42.9%	1,784	3,386
19	Georgia	39,839	software & computing	+1.7%	$882B	45	$74,632	35.4%	1,897	2,262
20	Wisconsin	37,420	mechanical & manufacturing	+6.3%	$453B	83	$74,631	33.8%	1,274	2,038
21	Maryland	32,521	software & computing	+0.6%	$546B	60	$98,678	43.7%	3,348	10,357
22	Indiana	30,577	biotech & life sciences	+4.5%	$520B	59	$69,477	30.2%	1,028	1,840
23	Utah	21,846	biotech & life sciences	-0.2%	$299B	73	$93,421	38.4%	824	2,268
24	Missouri	20,279	biotech & life sciences	-1.9%	$449B	45	$68,545	33.2%	1,899	1,285
25	New Hampshire	18,906	software & computing	-5.7%	$119B	158	$96,838	40.7%	343	2,616
26	Tennessee	18,494	biotech & life sciences	-2.3%	$561B	33	$67,631	31.7%	1,626	1,891
27	South Carolina	16,348	mechanical & manufacturing	+0.6%	$357B	46	$67,804	32.9%	776	858
28	Iowa	14,844	biotech & life sciences	-2.9%	$266B	56	$71,433	31.5%	618	593
29	Idaho	13,683	software & computing	-8.5%	$129B	106	$74,942	32.1%	69	350
30	Nevada	12,595	software & computing	+21.6%	$269B	47	$76,364	28.7%	100	739
31	Kansas	11,440	electronics & semiconductors	-8.0%	$231B	50	$70,333	35.8%	384	610
32	Kentucky	11,153	biotech & life sciences	+0.1%	$295B	38	$61,118	27.8%	629	989
33	Oklahoma	8,054	mechanical & manufacturing	-0.8%	$264B	31	$62,138	28.7%	465	772
34	Rhode Island	7,886	biotech & life sciences	+14.9%	$80B	98	$84,972	39.0%	745	846
35	Alabama	7,512	biotech & life sciences	-0.1%	$325B	23	$62,212	28.9%	952	3,950
36	New Mexico	6,621	software & computing	+7.4%	$147B	45	$62,268	31.6%	327	3,109
37	Vermont	6,133	electronics & semiconductors	-10.1%	$46B	133	$81,211	43.7%	133	571
38	Delaware	6,046	chemistry & materials	+15.6%	$111B	54	$81,361	36.5%	216	1,072
39	Louisiana	5,952	mechanical & manufacturing	-5.6%	$329B	18	$58,229	27.0%	551	568
40	District of Columbia	5,781	software & computing	-6.4%	$184B	31	$108,210	65.9%	549	616
41	Maine	5,499	biotech & life sciences	+13.0%	$99B	55	$73,733	37.0%	284	581
42	Arkansas	4,975	software & computing	-5.0%	$188B	26	$58,700	26.2%	282	572
43	Nebraska	4,943	biotech & life sciences	-0.2%	$189B	26	$74,590	35.3%	429	415
44	Mississippi	3,066	biotech & life sciences	-14.1%	$158B	19	$54,203	25.5%	161	266
45	Montana	2,896	software & computing	+15.9%	$78B	37	$70,804	34.6%	125	866
46	Hawaii	2,635	software & computing	+5.7%	$118B	22	$95,322	37.0%	175	1,056
47	West Virginia	2,059	chemistry & materials	+16.3%	$106B	19	$55,948	24.0%	138	330
48	North Dakota	2,050	mechanical & manufacturing	+5.5%	$80B	26	$76,525	33.6%	75	156
49	South Dakota	2,050	biotech & life sciences	+9.6%	$77B	27	$71,810	33.3%	73	256
50	Wyoming	1,796	electronics & semiconductors	+2.0%	$51B	35	$72,415	30.4%	30	364
51	Alaska	779	mechanical & manufacturing	-4.4%	$72B	11	$86,631	32.2%	53	102

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