Agency · 1975–2026 · AAAS data
Environmental Protection Agency
The science behind air and water standards — and a budget history dominated by 1970s clean-water spending.
A note on what this chart shows: unlike most pages here, this series is the Environmental Protection Agency's whole budget, not just its research line. The research core is the Science and Technology account — the lab work behind air and water quality standards, chemical safety, and environmental monitoring — which sits inside a much larger agency budget that mostly funds regulation, cleanup, and grants to states.
The shape of the history is dramatic. In the late 1970s EPA's budget ballooned to about $16.7 billion in 2017 dollars (1978), inflated by enormous construction grants that built municipal sewage-treatment plants under the Clean Water Act. The early-1980s retrenchment cut it roughly in half, and since then the agency has lived between about $7 billion and $11 billion in 2017 dollars, with a visible bump around the 2009–2010 Recovery Act era.
Fiscal year 2025 came in at about $9.1 billion in current dollars — which, adjusted for inflation, is the agency's lowest level since 1976. The 2026 figure of $4.2 billion, a proposed cut of more than half, is the estimate from the White House budget request. The research core fared better than that topline suggests: Congress enacted the Science and Technology account at about $744 million for FY 2026, against a request of roughly $500 million. The budget-cycle section below has the breakdown.
Fig. 1 · Budget history
EPA's budget peaked in the late 1970s — swollen by clean-water construction grants — and its 2025 level is the lowest in real terms since 1976.
The EPA total agency budget, every fiscal year on record.
- 1978Clean-water construction grants. Sewage-treatment construction grants under the Clean Water Act balloon EPA's budget to its all-time real peak.
- 1981Early-1980s retrenchment. The construction-grant era ends and the budget falls by roughly half in real terms.
- 2010Recovery Act era. Stimulus-era funding produces a visible one-time bump.
The numbers behind this figure
| Fiscal year | Nominal dollars | Constant 2017 dollars | R&D share of GDP |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 | 699 | 2,601 | — |
| 1976 | 772 | 2,685 | 0.015% |
| 1977 | 2,764 | 8,967 | 0.014% |
| 1978 | 5,499 | 16,718 | 0.017% |
| 1979 | 5,403 | 15,197 | 0.015% |
| 1980 | 4,669 | 12,081 | 0.012% |
| 1981 | 3,031 | 7,141 | 0.012% |
| 1982 | 3,676 | 8,099 | 0.009% |
| 1983 | 3,689 | 7,787 | 0.007% |
| 1984 | 4,067 | 8,288 | 0.006% |
| 1985 | 4,354 | 8,585 | 0.007% |
| 1986 | 3,664 | 7,066 | 0.007% |
| 1987 | 5,364 | 10,119 | 0.007% |
| 1988 | 5,027 | 9,186 | 0.007% |
| 1989 | 5,155 | 9,054 | 0.007% |
| 1990 | 5,462 | 9,254 | 0.007% |
| 1991 | 6,094 | 9,969 | 0.008% |
| 1992 | 6,669 | 10,643 | 0.008% |
| 1993 | 6,892 | 10,748 | 0.007% |
| 1994 | 6,659 | 10,162 | 0.008% |
| 1995 | 7,241 | 10,820 | 0.007% |
| 1996 | 6,528 | 9,575 | 0.006% |
| 1997 | 6,799 | 9,798 | 0.007% |
| 1998 | 7,360 | 10,475 | 0.007% |
| 1999 | 7,591 | 10,672 | 0.007% |
| 2000 | 7,433 | 10,237 | 0.006% |
| 2001 | 7,812 | 10,504 | 0.005% |
| 2002 | 8,100 | 10,723 | 0.005% |
| 2003 | 8,083 | 10,249 | 0.005% |
| 2004 | 8,368 | 10,297 | 0.006% |
| 2005 | 8,029 | 9,569 | 0.005% |
| 2006 | 7,617 | 8,835 | 0.005% |
| 2007 | 7,725 | 8,778 | 0.004% |
| 2008 | 7,472 | 8,404 | 0.004% |
| 2009 | 7,802 | 8,700 | 0.004% |
| 2010 | 10,300 | 11,259 | 0.004% |
| 2011 | 8,682 | 9,321 | 0.004% |
| 2012 | 9,218 | 9,721 | 0.004% |
| 2013 | 7,901 | 8,182 | 0.003% |
| 2014 | 8,200 | 8,405 | 0.003% |
| 2015 | 8,140 | 8,277 | 0.003% |
| 2016 | 8,140 | 8,140 | 0.003% |
| 2017 | 8,058 | 7,883 | 0.003% |
| 2018 | 8,824 | 8,476 | 0.002% |
| 2019 | 8,800 | 8,343 | 0.002% |
| 2020 | 9,457 | 8,668 | 0.002% |
| 2021 | 9,379 | 8,034 | 0.002% |
| 2022 | 8,598 | 7,043 | 0.002% |
| 2023 | 11,822 | 9,432 | 0.002% |
| 2024 | 9,162 | 7,154 | 0.002% |
| 2025 | 9,102 | 6,962 | 0.002% |
| 2026est. | 4,200 | 3,212 | 0.001% |
Fig. 2 · Where the money goes
The Science and Technology account is the research core inside EPA's much larger overall budget.
The major EPA 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 | Science & Technology |
|---|---|
| 1989 | 699 |
| 1990 | 719 |
| 1991 | 751 |
| 1992 | 786 |
| 1993 | 775 |
| 1994 | 897 |
| 1995 | 918 |
| 1996 | 708 |
| 1997 | 771 |
| 1998 | 756 |
| 1999 | 776 |
| 2000 | 705 |
| 2001 | 787 |
| 2002 | 793 |
| 2003 | 742 |
| 2004 | 646 |
| 2005 | 620 |
| 2006 | 621 |
| 2007 | 647 |
| 2008 | 623 |
| 2009 | 607 |
| 2010 | 554 |
| 2011 | 556 |
| 2012 | 528 |
| 2013 | 511 |
| 2014 | 494 |
| 2015 | 484 |
| 2016 | 474 |
| 2017 | 478 |
| 2018 | 475 |
| 2019 | 659 |
| 2020 | 688 |
| 2021 | 537 |
| 2022 | 607 |
| 2023 | 640 |
| 2024 | 592 |
| 2025 | 578 |
| 2026est. | 383 |
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.
- Clean Air, FY 2026 enacted$139MFY 2027 request $121M-12.5%
- Sustainable Communities, FY 2026 enacted$121MFY 2027 request $57M-52.9%
- Chemical Safety and Sustainability, FY 2026 enacted$120MFY 2027 request $90M-24.5%
- Safe and Sustainable Water Resources, FY 2026 enacted$108MFY 2027 request $78M-28.2%
- Air, Climate, and Energy, FY 2026 enacted$96MFY 2027 request $33M-65.8%
- Homeland Security, FY 2026 enacted$27MFY 2027 request $39M+43.4%
- Total Science & Technology, FY 2026 enacted$744MFY 2027 request $508M-31.7%
How much research funding does the Environmental Protection Agency receive?
EPA had about $535 million in R&D budget authority in fiscal year 2025.
What research does EPA fund?
A note on what this chart shows: unlike most pages here, this series is the Environmental Protection Agency's whole budget, not just its research line. The research core is the Science and Technology account — the lab work behind air and water quality standards, chemical safety, and environmental monitoring — which sits inside a much larger agency budget that mostly funds regulation, cleanup, and grants to states.
How has EPA's research budget changed over time?
EPA's budget peaked in the late 1970s — swollen by clean-water construction grants — and its 2025 level is the lowest in real terms since 1976.