Agency · 1976–2026 · AAAS data
Department of Commerce
Home of NOAA's weather and ocean science and NIST's measurement and standards labs.
The Department of Commerce sounds like an odd place to find science funding, but it houses two serious research agencies. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) runs the country's weather forecasting, satellites, and ocean science. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is the government's measurement lab — the place that defines the second, the kilogram, and the standards behind everything from encryption to earthquake-resistant buildings.
For most of its history this was a small budget: research and development (R&D) at Commerce began at $231 million in 1976 and stayed under about $1 billion a year in 2017 dollars until the early 1990s, when technology programs at NIST stepped it up. Then came the sharpest move in the whole series. In 2022, as CHIPS and Science Act money arrived, the department's inflation-adjusted R&D jumped from about $1.9 billion to about $6.9 billion — more than tripling in one year.
That surge is now unwinding toward a higher baseline than before: about $3.9 billion in fiscal year 2025. The 2026 figure of roughly $3.1 billion is the estimate from the White House budget request; the enacted FY 2026 budget landed higher, at about $3.7 billion in R&D by AAAS's estimate. The budget-cycle section below shows how it moved through Congress.
Fig. 1 · Budget history
Commerce research spending more than tripled in real terms in a single year — 2022 — when CHIPS and Science Act money arrived.
The Commerce research and development (R&D) budget, every fiscal year on record.
- 1993NIST technology programs expand. Early-1990s technology initiatives step the budget up from its long sub-$1 billion plateau.
- 2022CHIPS and Science Act era. Semiconductor and science funding more than triples the department's real-terms R&D in a single year.
The numbers behind this figure
| Fiscal year | Nominal dollars | Constant 2017 dollars | R&D share of GDP |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | 231 | 804 | 0.013% |
| 1977 | 253 | 821 | 0.012% |
| 1978 | 281 | 854 | 0.012% |
| 1979 | 332 | 934 | 0.013% |
| 1980 | 358 | 926 | 0.013% |
| 1981 | 345 | 813 | 0.011% |
| 1982 | 308 | 679 | 0.009% |
| 1983 | 325 | 686 | 0.009% |
| 1984 | 363 | 740 | 0.009% |
| 1985 | 392 | 772 | 0.009% |
| 1986 | 395 | 762 | 0.009% |
| 1987 | 417 | 787 | 0.009% |
| 1988 | 410 | 748 | 0.008% |
| 1989 | 427 | 749 | 0.008% |
| 1990 | 453 | 767 | 0.008% |
| 1991 | 537 | 878 | 0.009% |
| 1992 | 583 | 931 | 0.009% |
| 1993 | 793 | 1,237 | 0.012% |
| 1994 | 1,022 | 1,559 | 0.014% |
| 1995 | 1,118 | 1,671 | 0.015% |
| 1996 | 992 | 1,455 | 0.012% |
| 1997 | 964 | 1,389 | 0.011% |
| 1998 | 1,091 | 1,553 | 0.012% |
| 1999 | 1,084 | 1,524 | 0.011% |
| 2000 | 1,174 | 1,617 | 0.012% |
| 2001 | 1,030 | 1,385 | 0.01% |
| 2002 | 1,227 | 1,624 | 0.011% |
| 2003 | 1,197 | 1,555 | 0.011% |
| 2004 | 1,120 | 1,420 | 0.009% |
| 2005 | 1,121 | 1,380 | 0.009% |
| 2006 | 1,062 | 1,266 | 0.008% |
| 2007 | 1,073 | 1,244 | 0.007% |
| 2008 | 1,188 | 1,350 | 0.008% |
| 2009 | 1,389 | 1,562 | 0.01% |
| 2010 | 1,337 | 1,491 | 0.009% |
| 2011 | 1,217 | 1,331 | 0.008% |
| 2012 | 1,254 | 1,346 | 0.008% |
| 2013 | 1,297 | 1,368 | 0.008% |
| 2014 | 1,552 | 1,607 | 0.009% |
| 2015 | 1,527 | 1,565 | 0.008% |
| 2016 | 1,675 | 1,703 | 0.009% |
| 2017 | 1,796 | 1,796 | 0.009% |
| 2018 | 2,064 | 2,019 | 0.01% |
| 2019 | 1,957 | 1,880 | 0.009% |
| 2020 | 1,958 | 1,857 | 0.009% |
| 2021 | 2,110 | 1,934 | 0.009% |
| 2022 | 8,043 | 6,890 | 0.032% |
| 2023 | 5,141 | 4,212 | 0.019% |
| 2024 | 4,307 | 3,437 | 0.015% |
| 2025 | 3,883 | 3,032 | 0.013% |
| 2026est. | 3,138 | 2,400 | 0.01% |
Fig. 2 · Where the money goes
Two agencies carry Commerce's science budget: NOAA for weather and oceans, NIST for measurement and standards.
The major Commerce budget lines tracked by AAAS. These are appropriations accounts: they overlap the budget-history series but are not an exact decomposition of it.
The numbers behind this figure
| Fiscal year | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration | National Institute of Standards and Technology |
|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 2,137 | 278 |
| 1991 | 2,304 | 352 |
| 1992 | 2,688 | 394 |
| 1993 | 2,594 | 594 |
| 1994 | 3,000 | 795 |
| 1995 | 2,954 | 1,046 |
| 1996 | 2,743 | 799 |
| 1997 | 2,761 | 814 |
| 1998 | 2,831 | 965 |
| 1999 | 3,118 | 931 |
| 2000 | 3,292 | 873 |
| 2001 | 4,203 | 804 |
| 2002 | 4,329 | 906 |
| 2003 | 4,147 | 898 |
| 2004 | 4,592 | 748 |
| 2005 | 4,695 | 841 |
| 2006 | 4,754 | 872 |
| 2007 | 4,619 | 769 |
| 2008 | 4,764 | 850 |
| 2009 | 4,871 | 913 |
| 2010 | 5,191 | 936 |
| 2011 | 4,935 | 805 |
| 2012 | 5,174 | 792 |
| 2013 | 4,917 | 803 |
| 2014 | 5,572 | 871 |
| 2015 | 5,541 | 878 |
| 2016 | 5,774 | 964 |
| 2017 | 5,554 | 931 |
| 2018 | 6,064 | 1,151 |
| 2019 | 5,152 | 934 |
| 2020 | 4,914 | 948 |
| 2021 | 4,660 | 1,127 |
| 2022 | 5,188 | 957 |
| 2023 | 6,891 | 1,895 |
| 2024 | 4,934 | 1,140 |
| 2025 | 3,422 | 885 |
| 2026est. | 3,454 | 636 |
Appropriations
The current budget cycle: FY 2026 enacted, FY 2027 requested
What Congress enacted for fiscal year 2026 and what the White House has requested for FY 2027, account by account. Budget authority in millions of dollars.
The research and development share of this budget, as estimated by AAAS and excluding non-R&D activities in these accounts, came to $3.7B enacted for FY 2026. The ledgers below compare appropriated totals, which fund whole programs and can include activity beyond R&D.
- NIST Labs, FY 2026 enacted$1.2BFY 2027 request $729M-41.6%
- Industrial Tech Services, FY 2026 enacted$212MFY 2027 request $37M-82.5%
- Total, FY 2026 enacted$1.8BFY 2027 request $854M-53.8%
- Weather Satellites, FY 2026 enacted$1.7BFY 2027 request $1.6B-5.4%
- OAR: Weather and Air Chemistry Research, FY 2026 enacted$253MFY 2027 request $0M-100%
- OAR: Climate Research, FY 2026 enacted$224MFY 2027 request $0M-100%
- OAR: Ocean, Coastal, and Great Lakes Research, FY 2026 enacted$94MFY 2027 request $0M-100%
- OAR: High Performance Computing Initiatives, FY 2026 enacted$63MFY 2027 request $0M-100%
- Office of Oceanic & Atmospheric Research (OAR), FY 2026 enacted$0MFY 2027 request $6.1B—
- NOAA Total, FY 2026 enacted$6.2BFY 2027 request $4.5B-27.9%
How much research funding does the Department of Commerce receive?
Commerce had about $3.9 billion in R&D budget authority in fiscal year 2025. For fiscal year 2026, Congress enacted about $3.7 billion.
What research does Commerce fund?
The Department of Commerce sounds like an odd place to find science funding, but it houses two serious research agencies. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) runs the country's weather forecasting, satellites, and ocean science. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is the government's measurement lab — the place that defines the second, the kilogram, and the standards behind everything from encryption to earthquake-resistant buildings.
How has Commerce's research budget changed over time?
Commerce research spending more than tripled in real terms in a single year — 2022 — when CHIPS and Science Act money arrived.