Federal Research Center Spending Growth Slows to 0.34%

Defense gains accompanied a NASA decline

Defense-funded expenditures increased 7.4%, while spending financed by the Department of Energy rose 1.6%. NASA-funded expenditures fell 12.4%. Energy remained the largest federal source at $18.2 billion, followed by Defense at $7.1 billion. Together, these changes describe an uneven funding picture behind the nearly flat total. The NCSES analysis reports spending financed by each agency, rather than the agencies’ entire budgets.

That distinction matters when interpreting the announcement. An increase in the combined research total can coexist with a substantial decline in an individual agency’s support for work at these centers.

Experimental development edged down as research grew

The companion data tables, in Table 2, show another divide within the total. Experimental development spending fell from $12.857 billion in FY2024 to $12.716 billion in FY2025. Applied research increased from $12.372 billion to $12.507 billion, and basic research rose from $6.495 billion to $6.611 billion. These are current-dollar amounts, so the comparisons describe nominal spending.

Experimental development still represented the largest category, accounting for 39.9% of spending. Applied research was close behind at 39.3%, while basic research accounted for 20.8%. The two larger categories therefore remained similar in size even though they moved in opposite directions during the year.

Our reading of that split is that the headline total compresses several distinct changes. A reader following applied research would see an increase, while someone following experimental development would see a decrease. Neither movement alone describes the whole network. The category breakdown is useful precisely because an almost unchanged total can conceal those differences.

The August release looks back at FY2025

The survey’s technical notes place the announcement on a clear timeline: NCSES sent survey notices in November 2025 and finished collecting responses in April 2026. The release followed in August. This is an accounting of research expenditures during FY2025, separate from any announcement of new funding for the current year.

Forty of the 41 centers completed the survey. NCSES estimated Idaho National Laboratory’s FY2025 totals using its imputation procedures. Idaho also changed its reporting approach in FY2024, bringing more work within its R&D totals. That earlier change matters when comparing the latest figures with spending reported before the revision.

NCSES incorporates corrections to earlier years into the latest tables and directs readers to use those revised series for historical comparisons. The new release is therefore both an update on the year’s spending and a refreshed basis for reading the trend. Its scope remains separately accounted research and development expenditures at FFRDCs. The published reference period and subsequent collection dates establish when the measured activity occurred, which matters when using this August announcement to assess the direction of research spending.