This indicator represents state patent activity normalized to the size of its S&E workforce—specifically, employees in S&E occupations. People in S&E occupations include computer and mathematical scientists; biological, agricultural, and environmental life scientists; physical scientists; social scientists; and engineers. S&E managers; technicians; elementary, secondary, and postsecondary teachers; and medical personnel are not included.

Although the Patent and Trademark Office grants several types of patents, this indicator covers only utility patents, commonly known as patents for inventions. Utility patents can be granted for any new, nonobvious, useful, or improved method, process, machine, device, manufactured item, or chemical compound and represent a key measure of intellectual property. Patents were fractionally allocated among states based on the proportion of residences of all named inventors.

Data on individuals in S&E-related occupations and total occupations come from the Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS), the largest household survey in the United States, with a sample size of about 3.5 million addresses. The ACS collects information on an annual basis.

Data sources: Science-Metrix, special tabulation from Patent and Trademark Office data in PatentsView; Census Bureau, special tabulations of the American Community Survey.