HHS Budget History: Federal Funding 1976–2026

The Department of Health and Human Services holds the largest civilian research budget in the federal government, and it is overwhelmingly one agency: the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which funds most of the country's biomedical science. In 2024, NIH accounted for roughly 96 percent of the department's research and development (R&D) money, with the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the healthcare-quality agency AHRQ sharing the remainder.

The defining event is the NIH doubling. Between 1998 and 2003, Congress deliberately doubled the NIH budget — from about $13.7 billion to $27.2 billion in current dollars — the steepest sustained climb in this entire dataset. After the doubling ended, the budget actually eroded in real terms for more than a decade, bottoming out in the mid-2010s. COVID-19 emergency funding then drove the 2020 total to the series' real-terms record of about $42 billion in 2017 dollars.

Fiscal year 2025 came in at about $48.8 billion in current dollars. The 2026 figure of roughly $31.1 billion — a proposed cut of more than a third — is the estimate from the White House budget request. Congress rejected the cut where it mattered most: NIH's enacted FY 2026 appropriation came to about $47 billion, roughly level with recent years. The budget-cycle section below has the institute-by-institute detail.

Fig. 1 · Budget history

Congress doubled the National Institutes of Health budget between 1998 and 2003 — the steepest sustained climb anywhere in this series.

The HHS research and development (R&D) budget, every fiscal year on record.

Millions of constant 2017 dollars — adjusted for inflationFY 2026: budget-request estimate

Source: AAAS Historical R&D Data · as of 2025-10-23

1998NIH doubling begins. Congress starts a five-year campaign to double the National Institutes of Health budget.
2003Doubling completes. NIH funding reaches twice its 1998 level in current dollars.
2013Sequestration. Budget Control Act cuts bite during the long post-doubling erosion.
2020COVID-19 emergency funding. Pandemic supplementals drive the series' real-terms record, about $42 billion in 2017 dollars.

The numbers behind this figure

HHS research and development (R&D) budget by fiscal year. Dollar values in millions; source AAAS Historical R&D Data.
Fiscal year	Nominal dollars	Constant 2017 dollars	R&D share of GDP
1976	2,602	9,054	0.15%
1977	2,874	9,325	0.14%
1978	3,398	10,331	0.15%
1979	3,530	9,930	0.14%
1980	3,806	9,847	0.14%
1981	4,012	9,453	0.13%
1982	3,939	8,678	0.12%
1983	4,371	9,227	0.12%
1984	4,875	9,934	0.12%
1985	5,502	10,850	0.13%
1986	5,653	10,902	0.12%
1987	6,669	12,580	0.14%
1988	7,218	13,189	0.14%
1989	7,964	13,986	0.14%
1990	8,533	14,458	0.14%
1991	9,566	15,649	0.16%
1992	10,180	16,246	0.16%
1993	10,472	16,330	0.15%
1994	11,324	17,280	0.16%
1995	11,517	17,210	0.15%
1996	12,033	17,649	0.15%
1997	12,912	18,608	0.15%
1998	13,842	19,701	0.15%
1999	15,825	22,248	0.17%
2000	18,182	25,041	0.18%
2001	21,045	28,298	0.2%
2002	24,016	31,792	0.22%
2003	27,696	35,973	0.25%
2004	28,521	36,162	0.24%
2005	29,171	35,894	0.23%
2006	28,976	34,532	0.21%
2007	29,621	34,355	0.21%
2008	29,250	33,235	0.2%
2009	31,058	34,932	0.21%
2010	31,758	35,412	0.21%
2011	31,183	34,087	0.2%
2012	31,375	33,686	0.19%
2013	29,802	31,427	0.18%
2014	30,669	31,761	0.18%
2015	30,177	30,932	0.17%
2016	32,059	32,601	0.17%
2017	33,965	33,965	0.18%
2018	36,848	36,047	0.18%
2019	38,459	36,941	0.18%
2020	44,455	42,149	0.21%
2021	42,225	38,703	0.18%
2022	45,173	38,699	0.18%
2023	48,393	39,644	0.18%
2024	47,975	38,279	0.17%
2025	48,757	38,068	0.17%
2026est.	31,067	23,762	0.1%

Fig. 2 · Where the money goes

NIH carries about 96 percent of the department's research money; FDA, CDC, and AHRQ share the rest.

The major HHS budget lines tracked by AAAS. These are appropriations accounts: they overlap the budget-history series but are not an exact decomposition of it.

Millions of constant 2017 dollars — adjusted for inflationFY 2026: budget-request estimateFood and Drug AdministrationAgency for Healthcare Quality and ResearchCenters for Disease ControlNational Institutes of Health

Source: AAAS Historical R&D Data · as of 2025-10-23

The numbers behind this figure

HHS budget lines by fiscal year, in millions of constant 2017 dollars. Source AAAS Historical R&D Data.
Fiscal year	Food and Drug Administration	Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research	Centers for Disease Control	National Institutes of Health
1975	—	—	—	7,789
1976	—	—	—	8,010
1977	—	—	—	8,255
1978	—	—	—	8,641
1979	—	—	—	8,973
1980	—	—	—	8,872
1981	—	—	—	8,410
1982	—	—	—	8,024
1983	—	—	—	8,495
1984	—	—	—	9,158
1985	—	—	—	10,155
1986	—	—	—	10,149
1987	—	—	—	11,664
1988	—	—	—	12,181
1989	—	—	—	12,548
1990	—	—	—	12,837
1991	—	—	—	13,540
1992	—	—	—	14,238
1993	—	—	—	16,148
1994	—	—	—	16,719
1995	—	—	—	16,885
1996	1,286	95	—	17,494
1997	1,280	140	—	18,361
1998	1,318	128	3,393	19,463
1999	1,379	198	3,716	21,973
2000	1,446	227	4,602	24,570
2001	1,541	391	5,650	27,509
2002	1,884	412	8,679	30,873
2003	1,577	415	8,223	34,445
2004	2,086	374	8,876	34,498
2005	2,146	380	9,510	34,077
2006	2,176	370	9,744	33,125
2007	2,282	381	10,361	33,154
2008	2,553	377	10,358	33,300
2009	2,299	415	7,103	33,559
2010	2,582	434	7,378	33,902
2011	2,694	656	7,098	34,373
2012	2,643	427	5,975	32,543
2013	2,471	398	5,564	30,182
2014	2,625	447	6,010	30,822
2015	2,640	450	6,176	30,823
2016	2,728	324	7,372	32,311
2017	2,730	317	7,029	33,486
2018	2,759	321	7,973	35,838
2019	2,987	430	6,897	36,946
2020	2,975	407	7,052	37,997
2021	2,814	289	6,014	34,931
2022	2,758	302	7,279	36,831
2023	2,866	298	6,289	38,000
2024	2,845	288	7,200	36,195
2025	2,735	282	7,074	35,185
2026est.	2,422	—	3,305	21,352

Fig. 3 · Basic, applied, or development

NIH splits its money almost evenly between basic and applied research, with essentially no development.

Research and development at National Institutes of Health from 2000, the first year all three categories are reported, split by character of work: basic research asks how the world works, applied research aims at a specific problem, and development turns knowledge into working systems.

Millions of constant 2017 dollars — adjusted for inflationFY 2026: budget-request estimateBasic researchApplied researchDevelopment

Source: AAAS Historical R&D Data · as of 2025-10-23

The numbers behind this figure

National Institutes of Health research by character of work and fiscal year, in millions of constant 2017 dollars. Source AAAS Historical R&D Data.
Fiscal year	Basic research	Applied research	Development
2000	13,906	9,497	—
2001	15,650	10,653	—
2002	17,149	12,371	—
2003	18,391	14,414	—
2004	18,818	15,454	—
2005	19,470	14,464	—
2006	18,507	14,414	—
2007	18,134	14,627	—
2008	18,073	14,201	—
2009	17,731	15,583	—
2010	17,977	15,833	—
2011	17,501	15,045	—
2012	17,072	15,005	—
2013	16,059	13,695	—
2014	16,347	13,805	—
2015	15,311	14,018	—
2016	15,754	15,275	—
2017	16,625	15,794	—
2018	17,756	16,711	—
2019	18,244	17,177	—
2020	20,610	19,842	—
2021	19,244	17,920	—
2022	18,632	18,580	—
2023	18,724	18,896	—
2024	18,139	19,822	6
2025	17,505	20,225	5
2026est.	10,829	12,725	2

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 $45.2B enacted for FY 2026. The ledgers below compare appropriated totals, which fund whole programs and can include activity beyond R&D.

NIH institutes and centers30

Cancer Institute, FY 2026 enacted$7.4BFY 2027 request $7.4B+0%
Allergy and Infectious Diseases, FY 2026 enacted$6.6BFY 2027 request $4.8B-27.9%
Aging, FY 2026 enacted$4.5BFY 2027 request $4.2B-6.7%
Heart, Lung, and Blood, FY 2026 enacted$4BFY 2027 request $3.7B-7.3%
General Medical Sciences, FY 2026 enacted$3.3BFY 2027 request $3.2B-0.7%
Neurological Disorders, FY 2026 enacted$2.8BFY 2027 request $2.6B-7.3%
Office of the Director, FY 2026 enacted$2.5BFY 2027 request $2.3B-7.3%
Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney, FY 2026 enacted$2.3BFY 2027 request $2.2B-7.2%
Mental Health, FY 2026 enacted$2.2BFY 2027 request $2B-6.8%
Child Health & Human Dev, FY 2026 enacted$1.8BFY 2027 request $1.7B-6.7%
Drug Abuse, FY 2026 enacted$1.7BFY 2027 request $2.1B+26.1%
ARPA Health, FY 2026 enacted$1.5BFY 2027 request ——
ARPA-H, FY 2026 enacted$1.5BFY 2027 request $945M-37%
Environmental Health Sciences, FY 2026 enacted$991MFY 2027 request $646M-34.8%
Minority Health / Disparities, FY 2026 enacted$942MFY 2027 request $0M-100%
Natl Center for Advancing Translational Sci, FY 2026 enacted$942MFY 2027 request $873M-7.3%
Eye Institute, FY 2026 enacted$897MFY 2027 request $833M-7.1%
Arthritis / Musculoskeletal, FY 2026 enacted$685MFY 2027 request $638M-7%
Human Genome, FY 2026 enacted$663MFY 2027 request $620M-6.6%
Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, FY 2026 enacted$595MFY 2027 request $0M-100%
Deafness and Communication, FY 2026 enacted$534MFY 2027 request $500M-6.5%
Dental Research, FY 2026 enacted$525MFY 2027 request $490M-6.7%
National Library of Medicine, FY 2026 enacted$498MFY 2027 request $465M-6.6%
Biomedical Imaging / Bioengineering, FY 2026 enacted$441MFY 2027 request $408M-7.3%
Buildings and Facilities, FY 2026 enacted$350MFY 2027 request $350M+0%
Nursing Research, FY 2026 enacted$198MFY 2027 request $138M-30%
Complementary and Integrative Health, FY 2026 enacted$170MFY 2027 request $0M-100%
Fogarty International Center, FY 2026 enacted$95MFY 2027 request $0M-100%
ARPA-Health, FY 2026 enacted—FY 2027 request $945M—
Total NIH, FY 2026 enacted$47.2BFY 2027 request $41.2B-12.8%

Other HHS agencies4

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, FY 2026 enacted$9.3BFY 2027 request $6.3B-31.7%
Biomedical Advanced R&D Authority, FY 2026 enacted$1.1BFY 2027 request $724M-31%
Project BioShield, FY 2026 enacted$850MFY 2027 request $724M-14.8%
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, FY 2026 enacted$345MFY 2027 request $240M-30.6%

Go deeperThe full appropriations tracker, every agency

Common questions3

How much research funding does the Department of Health and Human Services receive?

HHS had about $49 billion in R&D budget authority in fiscal year 2025. For fiscal year 2026, Congress enacted about $45 billion.

What research does HHS fund?

The Department of Health and Human Services holds the largest civilian research budget in the federal government, and it is overwhelmingly one agency: the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which funds most of the country's biomedical science. In 2024, NIH accounted for roughly 96 percent of the department's research and development (R&D) money, with the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the healthcare-quality agency AHRQ sharing the remainder.

How has HHS's research budget changed over time?

Congress doubled the National Institutes of Health budget between 1998 and 2003 — the steepest sustained climb anywhere in this series.