Michigan
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.
Michigan at China’s rate would graduate 18,155 engineers a year. It graduates 8,527.
Michigan produces 8,527 engineering and computer science bachelor's degrees a year out of 54,684 total, one of America's strongest engineering producers, from 40 institutions. At China's rate it would produce 18,155. Output is growing (+9.7% over three years). Gap Score: 47% of the China benchmark. Its own economy is projected to open 14,620 engineering, computing and technician jobs a year through 2034; in-state degrees, associate and bachelor's together, cover 66% of them.
The gap against China’s benchmark
Three-year trend: eng+CS share of degrees
Michigan is missing 9,628 engineers a year at China's rate, roughly 4x the annual output of University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.
Where Michigan’s engineers are made.
40 institutions produce engineering or computer science bachelor’s degrees in Michigan. The top 8 account for 77% 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 Michigan-Ann Arbor | 2,537 | 29.7% |
| 2 | Michigan State University | 1,231 | 13.7% |
| 3 | Michigan Technological University | 775 | 66.5% |
| 4 | University of Michigan-Dearborn | 499 | 36.7% |
| 5 | Oakland University | 434 | 14.1% |
| 6 | Wayne State University | 431 | 11.5% |
| 7 | Western Michigan University | 333 | 10.6% |
| 8 | Kettering University | 309 | 93.8% |
Jobs vs. degrees
Michigan'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 | 2,450 |
| Industrial Engineers | 2,030 |
| Mechanical Engineers | 1,840 |
| Computer User Support Specialists | 1,210 |
| Computer Systems Analysts | 940 |
| Electrical Engineers | 600 |
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: Michigan labor-market projections via Projections Central (U.S. Dept. of Labor).
Michigan's battery incentives have delivered a fraction of promised jobs
Michigan's $2.4B SOAR fund backed EV battery plants and a chip megasite. Some deals collapsed, others were cut back, and the state's own reports show only a fraction of promised jobs so far while its engineering output stayed flat.
The drain.
Michigan keeps most of its homegrown graduates but bleeds a large share of its top-tier engineers and computer scientists to the coasts, and only in 2025 did more people move in from other states than out.
Sources: MSU College of Engineering; WDET (Strada Education Foundation); Bridge Michigan (U.S. Census Bureau)
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 Michigan.
Tie SOAR cash to pipeline
Michigan's SOAR reports show under 13% of promised jobs delivered. Any successor fund should require recipients like Ford Marshall and LG Lansing to co-fund Digital ROTC service-for-tuition seats at nearby community colleges, so the state's money trains engineers as well as building plants.
Fund service-for-tuition at community colleges
Kellogg, Lansing, Mott and Washtenaw sit next to the state's biggest battery, chip and computing sites. A Digital ROTC track that pays tuition for a service commitment at those plants would fill the technician and engineering ranks the plants say they cannot hire.
Keep U-M engineers in state
Michigan retains homegrown grads but loses its top computer science and engineering talent to the coasts. Retention bonuses and Digital ROTC service terms attached to the U-M Los Alamos center and Marshall would convert flagship graduates into in-state engineers.
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 Michigan, 11% of engineering-track credentials are associate degrees today. Digital ROTC is built to expand that community-college route.