Montana
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.
Montana at China’s rate would graduate 1,822 engineers a year. It graduates 737.
Montana produces 737 engineering and computer science bachelor's degrees a year out of 5,488 total, a mid-pack engineering producer, from 7 institutions. At China's rate it would produce 1,822. Output is shrinking (-6.7% over three years). Gap Score: 40% of the China benchmark. Its own economy is projected to open 1,070 engineering, computing and technician jobs a year through 2034; in-state degrees, associate and bachelor's together, cover 76% of them.
The gap against China’s benchmark
Three-year trend: eng+CS share of degrees
Montana is missing 1,085 engineers a year at China's rate, roughly 2x the annual output of Montana State University.
Where Montana’s engineers are made.
7 institutions produce engineering or computer science bachelor’s degrees in Montana. The top 7 account for 100% of output.
Every producing institution. Circle area = eng+CS bachelor’s degrees per year
Top producers
| # | Institution | Eng+CS / yr | % of its degrees |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Montana State University | 511 | 19.1% |
| 2 | Montana Technological University | 134 | 47.8% |
| 3 | The University of Montana | 72 | 6.0% |
| 4 | Carroll College | 16 | 6.4% |
| 5 | Rocky Mountain College | 2 | 1.4% |
| 6 | University of Providence | 1 | 0.8% |
| 7 | Salish Kootenai College | 0 | 0.7% |
Jobs vs. degrees
Montana'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 |
|---|---|
| Civil Engineers | 140 |
| Software Developers | 130 |
| Computer User Support Specialists | 100 |
| Surveying and Mapping Technicians | 70 |
| Architectural and Civil Drafters | 60 |
| Computer Systems Analysts | 60 |
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: Montana labor-market projections via Projections Central (U.S. Dept. of Labor).
Montana's largest projects are federal and slow to arrive
Montana has no fab or battery plant. Its largest engineering projects are a $1.2B Sentinel ICBM build at Malmstrom, a $1.44B DOE-backed renewable fuels expansion in Great Falls, and speculative data centers in Butte and Yellowstone County, while a $41M federal Tech Hub tries to grow a 1,000-job photonics cluster to 5,000.
The drain.
Montana imports more students than it loses and its migration is net positive for the college-educated, but state tax data show engineering bachelor's grads leave at far higher rates than teachers or nurses.
Sources: MT DLI/OCHE Montana Post-Secondary Workforce Report (2022); MT DLI 2026 Labor Day Report
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 Montana.
Tie Sentinel dollars to Great Falls College
Malmstrom's $1.2B build needs ~1,000 contractors and the Air Force admits it does not yet know its workforce size. A Digital ROTC track at Great Falls College MSU and Montana Tech, tuition covered in exchange for a service commitment on Sentinel infrastructure and utility work, would build the local engineering technicians before the 2030s ramp instead of importing them.
Put photonics scholarships behind the Tech Hub
The Headwaters Tech Hub promises 4,000 new photonics jobs, and Gallatin College already runs a two-year photonics and laser tech program next to MSU. Service-for-tuition seats there, funded from Tech Hub and industry dollars with a two-year Montana work commitment, would raise the state's 9% associate share of engineering output.
Make retention a condition of abatement
Montana Renewables sought $286.5M in tax abatements and data center developers will seek more. Condition future abatements on funding Digital ROTC cohorts and hiring Montana University System engineering grads, aiming at the 50% of mechanical and 42% of chemical engineering grads who leave the state within a year.
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 Montana, 9% of engineering-track credentials are associate degrees today. Digital ROTC is built to expand that community-college route.