Florida
Source: IPEDS Completions, 3-yr avg AY 2022–25 (NCES; 2024–25 provisional), bachelor’s degrees, CIP 14 + 11; China 33.2%: PRC Ministry of Education, 2022 bachelor’s graduates by discipline (NSF NCSES S&E Indicators Fig. HED-30: 32.8%, 2020); Population: Census NST-EST2025.
Florida at China’s rate would graduate 34,976 engineers a year. It graduates 11,711.
Florida produces 11,711 engineering and computer science bachelor's degrees a year out of 105,348 total, a mid-pack engineering producer, from 55 institutions. At China's rate it would produce 34,976. Output is growing (+12.3% over three years). Gap Score: 34% of the China benchmark. Its own economy is projected to open 30,300 engineering, computing and technician jobs a year through 2034; in-state degrees, associate and bachelor's together, cover 45% of them.
The gap against China’s benchmark
Three-year trend: eng+CS share of degrees
Florida is missing 23,265 engineers a year at China's rate, roughly 11x the annual output of University of Central Florida.
Where Florida’s engineers are made.
55 institutions produce engineering or computer science bachelor’s degrees in Florida. The top 8 account for 74% of output.
Every producing institution. Circle area = eng+CS bachelor’s degrees per year
Top producers
| # | Institution | Eng+CS / yr | % of its degrees |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of Central Florida | 2,111 | 14.2% |
| 2 | University of Florida | 1,682 | 17.4% |
| 3 | Florida International University | 1,524 | 13.7% |
| 4 | University of South Florida | 1,163 | 11.6% |
| 5 | Florida State University | 804 | 8.5% |
| 6 | Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University-Daytona Beach | 543 | 36.7% |
| 7 | Florida Atlantic University | 455 | 7.9% |
| 8 | University of North Florida | 339 | 10.6% |
Jobs vs. degrees
Florida's own labor-market projection, 2024–2034, for engineers, computer occupations and engineering technicians, against the degrees the state produces at every level.
Openings against output
Where the openings are
| Occupation | Openings / yr |
|---|---|
| Software Developers | 6,530 |
| Computer User Support Specialists | 3,310 |
| Computer Systems Analysts | 2,790 |
| Civil Engineers | 1,860 |
| Computer Occupations, All Other | 1,500 |
| Information Security Analysts | 1,390 |
Coverage: degrees ÷ openings
Openings are the state labor agency’s own 10-year projection: new jobs plus replacing workers who retire or leave the field (BLS method). Not every opening goes to a new graduate, so this is a coverage measure; it does not count vacant positions. Occupations: engineers (SOC 17-2), computer occupations (SOC 15-12) and engineering technicians (SOC 17-3, the associate-degree tier), the jobs CIP 14 + 11 degrees feed; degrees here include associate degrees to match. Source: Florida labor-market projections via Projections Central (U.S. Dept. of Labor).
Florida's space, chip and data center projects all need engineers
Florida's main investments are spaceport financing for SpaceX and Blue Origin, an $80 million state semiconductor institute, and a first wave of hyperscale AI data centers now governed by a 2026 law. Each assumes an engineering workforce that Florida's universities graduate at a below-national rate and only partly keep.
The drain.
Florida gains retirees and loses people in their twenties. Its largest engineering school keeps a bit under two-thirds of its graduates in state, and the state's share of working PhD scientists and engineers is less than half the national rate.
Sources: Florida Chamber Foundation via NBC 15 and flchamber.com; UCF Career Services / CECS First Destination Survey; NSF NCSES State Indicators
Who’s covering it.
Reporters already cover this, but no one has combined it into a single number the way the Index does.
The fix, in Florida.
Condition spaceport money on Florida hires
The Spaceport Improvement Program has put $531 million into 48 projects and now backs Blue Origin's 500-job plant. Tie future SIP and Space Florida financing to Digital ROTC cohorts at Eastern Florida State College and UCF, with the company covering tuition in exchange for four years of service on the Space Coast.
Put a pipeline clause in SB 484
Florida's new data-center law makes 50-megawatt loads pay their own utility costs but asks nothing on workforce. Add a per-megawatt pipeline fee to the PSC's large-load tariff that funds service-for-tuition engineering slots at Polk State, Florida Poly and USF, so Fort Meade's 456 operating jobs go to Floridians.
Make FSI a service scholarship
The state has already committed $80 million to the Florida Semiconductor Institute toward 10,000 chip jobs. Route a share through the 28 Florida College System campuses as Digital ROTC tuition for engineering-technology students who commit to Florida employers such as the NeoCity line, addressing the 38% of UCF engineers who now leave.
What Digital ROTC would fund
Digital ROTC: federal student loans that cover two years of engineering, computer science, or cybersecurity school at a community college, whether those years end in an associate degree or transfer into a bachelor’s program. The loans are forgiven in full after 24 to 36 months of service in government technology roles. In Florida, 15% of engineering-track credentials are associate degrees today. Digital ROTC is built to expand that community-college route.