Massachusetts
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.
Massachusetts at China’s rate would graduate 19,644 engineers a year. It graduates 9,515.
Massachusetts produces 9,515 engineering and computer science bachelor's degrees a year out of 59,168 total, one of America's strongest engineering producers, from 55 institutions. At China's rate it would produce 19,644. Output is growing (+10.6% over three years). Gap Score: 48% of the China benchmark. Its own economy is projected to open 12,580 engineering, computing and technician jobs a year through 2034; in-state degrees, associate and bachelor's together, cover 81% of them.
The gap against China’s benchmark
Three-year trend: eng+CS share of degrees
Massachusetts is missing 10,129 engineers a year at China's rate, roughly 6x the annual output of Northeastern University.
Where Massachusetts’s engineers are made.
55 institutions produce engineering or computer science bachelor’s degrees in Massachusetts. The top 8 account for 73% of output.
Every producing institution. Circle area = eng+CS bachelor’s degrees per year
Top producers
| # | Institution | Eng+CS / yr | % of its degrees |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Northeastern University | 1,666 | 32.6% |
| 2 | University of Massachusetts-Amherst | 1,022 | 15.6% |
| 3 | Worcester Polytechnic Institute | 958 | 80.8% |
| 4 | University of Massachusetts-Lowell | 852 | 30.9% |
| 5 | Boston University | 800 | 16.7% |
| 6 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 723 | 63.7% |
| 7 | Wentworth Institute of Technology | 476 | 61.0% |
| 8 | Tufts University | 418 | 24.5% |
Jobs vs. degrees
Massachusetts'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 | 3,170 |
| Computer User Support Specialists | 1,050 |
| Computer Systems Analysts | 1,030 |
| Industrial Engineers | 720 |
| Civil Engineers | 580 |
| Mechanical Engineers | 540 |
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: Massachusetts labor-market projections via Projections Central (U.S. Dept. of Labor).
Massachusetts put $4 billion behind climatetech, chips and AI
Massachusetts has bonded nearly $4 billion for life sciences, climatetech and an AI hub, backed CHIPS-funded semiconductor packaging in Chelmsford, and hosts the country's best-funded fusion startup in Devens. Its universities graduate more engineers and computer scientists per resident than any other state's, yet measured against the China benchmark it still has the tenth-largest gap per resident in the country.
The drain.
Massachusetts imports 18-to-24-year-olds by the tens of thousands and then loses them: the 25-to-34 cohort is the state's biggest net exporter, and a 2026 survey found more than a third of its graduates leave right after commencement.
Sources: Boston Globe / Boston Indicators (2024); Pioneer Institute (2026); Worcester Telegram and Gazette / Census (2026); Boston Globe / MassINC Polling (2026)
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 Massachusetts.
Add service to free tuition
MassEducate already makes the 15 community colleges free; fall 2025 headcount hit 86,321, up 38.5% since 2022, yet associate degrees are only 7% of the state's engineering output. Layer a Digital ROTC service-for-tuition track on top: engineering-tech and CS associate students commit to two years at a Massachusetts employer or lab (Lincoln Lab, ADI, CFS) in exchange for stipends and guaranteed transfer to UMass.
Tie Mass Leads money to grads
The $500 million life sciences, $400 million climatetech and $100 million AI Hub authorizations, plus MassTech's $10.17 million to ADI, carry no headcount-of-graduates requirement. Condition each award on hiring Digital ROTC cohorts from public colleges, so the state's bond money pays to train the engineers it says it lacks.
Keep the 25-to-34s
Massachusetts loses 22,631 people a year aged 25 to 44 and 35% of graduates right after commencement, with jobs the top reason. A service obligation that starts at graduation, paired with the earnings premium the state's own report shows for UMass Lowell and Amherst engineers, keeps grads in-state through the years they are most likely to 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 Massachusetts, 7% of engineering-track credentials are associate degrees today. Digital ROTC is built to expand that community-college route.