BY THE NUMBERS - The Economic Impact of the State University of New York - Academic Year 2020 - February 2024

Oct 15, 2026

Report quantifies how the State University of New York (SUNY) contributes to New York’s economy as an employer, operator of campuses, and provider of education and health-related institutions. For academic year 2020–21, SUNY generated $31.0B in annual economic impact (1.9% of gross state product), supported 157,600 direct and indirect jobs (1.6% of the workforce), and delivered $8.67 return on each $1 of state funding. It also estimates industry- and region-level effects and explains that growth since 2016 is driven by expanding hospitals and research activity.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages28

Reading Time1 h 11 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

SUNY’s Economic Impact by Industry

SUNY’s Economic Impact by Region

Tables and Sources

BY THE NUMBERS The Economic Impact of the State University of New York Academic Year 2020 February 2024 Brian Backstrom Patrick Schumacher “SUNYAdminBuildingAlbany.jpg” by Matt H. Wade, retrieved from [https://](https://)[ ](https://)[commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/](commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/) File:SUNYAdminBuildingAlbany.jpg, used under CC BY-SA 3.0. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Brian Backstrom is the director of education policy studies at the Rockefeller Institute of Government. Patrick Schumacher is a policy analyst at the Rockefeller Institute of Government. SUNY’S ECONOMIC IMPACT BY THE NUMBERS $31.0B IMPACT IN NEW YORK STATE annually, 2020–21 (1.9 percent of gross state product) 157,600 DIRECT AND INDIRECT JOBS (1.6 percent of the NYS workforce) 72,185 $ $$ $8.67 RETURN ON INVESTMENT for every $1 of state funding1 Full-and part-time SUNY employees 85,415 Jobs indirectly supported Introduction The State University of New York (SUNY) is the largest comprehensive system of higher education in the United States, currently providing affordable, quality higher education to about 1.4 million students across its system of 64 college and university campuses and its entire portfolio of credit– and noncredit–bearing courses and programs, continuing education, and community outreach programs. SUNY’s reach and role as the state’s foremost educational system is certainly immense. But what about the economic impact of SUNY as an employer and operator of its college and university campuses, and its four academic health centers, ﬁve hospitals, four medical schools, two dental schools, a law school, the country’s oldest school of maritime, the state’s only college of optometry, and one US Department of Energy National Laboratory? And what is SUNY’s overall contribution to the innovation infrastructure and labor force in New York? Unquestionably, SUNY is a key driver of the economic engine of New York State. SUNY’s annual economic impact in New York State was $31.0 billion in the academic year 2020-21 (AY 2020),2 an 8 percent growth in overall state economic impact since 2016 ($28 .6B) .3 This growth in impact has been driven largely by SUNY’s expanding hospitals and research activities; indeed, research and development activities system– wide have continued to grow, reaching more than $1.4 billion in 2020, an increase of more than 22 percent from just ﬁve years prior.4 In AY 2020, the SUNY system educated 394,220 students, employed 72,185 faculty and staff, and had an operating budget supported by $12.95 billion in revenues.5 To put this in perspective, if SUNY were a private company, it would rank among the 10 largest employers in all of New York. The operations and student expenditures made throughout SUNY in AY 2020 supported a total of 157,600 jobs when counting both direct employment and employment that can be attributed to SUNY indirectly. This report offers an update and expansion of the calculation of economic impact SUNY had on New York in 2018 made in a previous report by the Rockefeller Institute of Government.6 SUNY Impacts All New York Industries SUNY’s impact ﬂows through 91 percent (499 of 546) of the official industry sector classiﬁcations active in New York State’s economy. SUNY directly impacts the higher education, scientific research and development (R&D), and hospital industries, where SUNY produces output, employs workers, and generates revenues (Table 1) . SUNY’sindirect economic impacts are similarly massive. To name just a few: • SUNY employees and students generate $2.4 billion of demand in the real estate industry across the state, supporting almost 12,600 jobs. • SUNY employees and students spend $736 million in restaurants, supporting an additional 7,117 jobs. • The SUNY community generates demand at and supports employment in retail stores, doctor’s offices, wholesale traders, and hundreds of other industries across New York. TABLE 1. Annual Econo

FAQs

What is SUNY’s total annual economic impact on New York State for academic year 2020–21?

SUNY’s annual economic impact in New York State was $31.0 billion in academic year 2020–21 (AY 2020).

How many jobs does SUNY support through direct and indirect effects?

SUNY supported 157,600 direct and indirect jobs, representing about 1.6% of the NYS workforce in 2020–21.

What does the report cite as a major driver of SUNY’s economic impact growth since 2016?

The report attributes much of the growth to SUNY’s expanding hospitals and research activities, including system-wide growth in research and development expenditures.

Oct 15, 2026

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