Research for the People

The NIH invests most of its nearly $48 billion budget¹ in medical research for the American people.

Nearly 83 percent² of NIH’s funding is awarded for extramural research, largely through almost 50,000 competitive grants to more than 300,000 researchers at more than 2,500 universities, medical schools, and other research institutions in every state.

In addition, approximately 11 percent² of the NIH's budget supports projects conducted by nearly 6,000 scientists in its own laboratories, most of which are on the NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland. The remaining 6 percent² covers research support, administrative, and facility construction, maintenance, or operational costs.

Justifications, Testimonies, and Appropriations

• Budget Requests — congressional justifications
• Congressional Testimony — budget requests & testimony by the NIH Director
• History of NIH Appropriations — from 1938

Funding for Diseases, Conditions, Research Areas

• Funding levels for diseases, conditions, and research areas, based on actual grants, contracts, research conducted at NIH, and other mechanisms of support.

Grants Awarded

• Funded Organization — universities and research organizations around the nation receiving research grants and contracts
• Budget and Spending — funding for grants and contracts
• Success Rates — annual percentage of research grant applications that are funded
• RePORTER — a searchable database of NIH-funded research projects

¹ Based on historical distribution of actual FY 2022 obligations across extramural and intramural mechanisms that comprise the annual NIH budget.

² Reflects the sum of enacted discretionary budget authority of slightly over $46.1 billion received under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (P.L. 117-328). The budget total of $47.7 billion also includes $1.412 billion derived from PHS Evaluation financing, $141.5 million mandatory funding for the Special type 1 diabetes account, and $1.085 billion received from 21^st Century Cures Act allocations.  Appropriations received by the recently established Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) are excluded as is unobligated carryover related to emergency pandemic supplemental appropriations enacted prior to FY 2022 and resources from the HHS Nonrecurring Expenses Fund (NEF).