MAJOR ECONOMIC FORCE

Arizona’s public universities are significant contributors to the state’s economy.

Arizona’s public universities are foundational to the state, creating the highly qualified workforce of the future, generating jobs and discovering new technologies through research endeavors. Taken as a whole, the impact of Arizona’s public universities is considerable, generating $11.1 billion in economic impact with 102,000 jobs in Arizona in 2015 alone.

Graduates from Arizona’s public universities are major contributors to the economy. In 2015, 271,197 students who graduated from Arizona’s public universities between 1989-1990 and 2014-15 earned nearly $15.7 billion in wages in Arizona and paid an estimated $1.1 billion in state and local taxes.

Through research activities alone, the universities were responsible for 569 invention disclosures, 179 licenses and options, and $1.2 billion in total research and development activity in FY 2016. On average, for every square foot of research space on Arizona’s public university campuses, our universities bring in $382 in research money for Arizona.