Nevada

2,302

engineers a year
at China’s rate

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.

← #31 Missouri#32 of 51#33 Wyoming →

Nevada at China’s rate would graduate 3,344 engineers a year. It graduates 1,042.

Nevada produces 1,042 engineering and computer science bachelor's degrees a year out of 10,073 total, a mid-pack engineering producer, from 4 institutions. At China's rate it would produce 3,344. Output is growing (+3.6% over three years). Gap Score: 31% of the China benchmark. Its own economy is projected to open 3,210 engineering, computing and technician jobs a year through 2034; in-state degrees, associate and bachelor's together, cover 38% of them.

Engineering + CS share of bachelor’s degrees

10.3%

Below the national 12.3%; 31% of the way to China’s 33.2%.

Missing engineers a year at China’s rate

2,302

1,476 at a conservative 25%, and 973 at 20%.

Three-year trend, share of degrees

10.310.110.7

Output up 3.6% in degrees, 2022-23 to 2024-25.

National rank by share

#32

of 51 by share; #3 per capita, 70 missing engineers per 100k residents (pop. 3.3M).

What they study

45% eng

55% computer science. 15% of the state’s eng+CS output is at the associate level, the two-year pathway.

Job openings a year, engineers + computing + technicians

3,210

38% covered by the state’s own degrees, all levels; #46 of 51 on coverage.

The gap against China’s benchmark

Nevada, today10.3%

United States, today12.3%

China benchmark33.2%

2,302 missing engineering and CS bachelor’s degrees a year at China’s 33.2% rate.

Three-year trend: eng+CS share of degrees

2022–232023–242024–25

Nevada is missing 2,302 engineers a year at China's rate, roughly 4x the annual output of University of Nevada-Reno.

Where Nevada’s engineers are made.

4 institutions produce engineering or computer science bachelor’s degrees in Nevada. The top 4 account for 100% of output.

Every producing institution. Circle area = eng+CS bachelor’s degrees per year

University of Nevada-Reno alone is 53% of the state's output.Swipe the map →

Top producers

#	Institution	Eng+CS / yr	% of its degrees
1	University of Nevada-Reno	553	15.7%
2	University of Nevada-Las Vegas	485	10.1%
3	Nevada State University	3	0.4%
4	University of Phoenix-Nevada	0	10.0%

These 4 institutions are the state's entire eng+CS output. Bachelor's degrees, matching the state totals above. IPEDS Completions C2023–C2025, first majors; 3-yr average.

Jobs vs. degrees

Nevada'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

Job openings per year (growth + replacement)3,210

Eng + CS degrees produced per year (associate + bachelor’s)1,224

of which net new jobs per year (growth only)502

Where the openings are

Occupation	Openings / yr
Computer User Support Specialists	440
Software Developers	330
Computer Occupations, All Other	260
Civil Engineers	240
Computer Systems Analysts	190
Architectural and Civil Drafters	130

Coverage: degrees ÷ openings

38%

of Nevada's projected openings are covered by its own degrees. Rank #46 of 51; U.S.: 54%. Demand: 98 openings per 100k residents (U.S.: 143).

Nevada's colleges cover 38% of the engineering, computing and technician jobs its economy opens every year. The other 1,986 a year, 4x the annual output of University of Nevada-Reno, must be imported, retrained, or left unfilled.

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: Nevada labor-market projections via Projections Central (U.S. Dept. of Labor).

Nevada's abatements drew battery plants that hire engineers from out of state

Since the 2014 Tesla deal, Nevada has traded billions in tax abatements and federal loans for gigafactories, a lithium mine and data-center campuses across the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center. The engineers to run them are mostly hired from outside the state.

Tesla Gigafactory expansion, Storey County

$330M abatement

GOED approved $330 million in new abatements in 2023 for a $3.6 billion expansion pledging 3,000 jobs at $33.49/hr, on top of the $1B+ 2014 package. Through June 2025 the state's own audit counted 330 qualified employees and $156.3M invested, and construction-worker Nevada residency on the new project was 38%, below the 50% requirement. The first Semi rolled off the line in April 2026, more than six years behind Tesla's original 2019 target, and Tesla declared high-volume Semi production in September 2026.

The Nevada Independent; GOED FY25 abatement report; Transport Topics

Thacker Pass lithium mine (Lithium Americas / GM), Humboldt County

$2.23B DOE loan

A project estimated at $2.93 billion in its 2024 technical report, backed by a $2.23 billion DOE loan and nearly $1 billion from GM (38% stake). More than 1,600 construction workers were on site by August 2026, with over 2,000 expected later in the year; the permanent operations team will be about 350 people, with mechanical completion targeted for late 2027 and ramp through 2028. LAC says it will soon need large numbers of electricians and automation-controls staff.

Nevada Appeal / NNBW; Lithium Americas

Data-center abatements (Google, Switch, Apple), Storey County and statewide

$457M abatements

Since 2015 Nevada has approved a projected $457 million in data-center abatements for roughly 300 permanent jobs, about $1.5 million per job; local governments lost $537 million in sales and use tax FY2017-2025. GOED does not track whether the promised $1 billion in tax revenue or $6.6 billion in activity materialized, and by mid-2026 Reno and Humboldt County had paused new approvals. In September 2026 Gov. Lombardo ordered GOED to require full school-tax payment and binding community commitments from new applicants, and a legislative committee asked for a 2027 bill to repeal the abatements.

The Nevada Independent

The drain.

Nevada keeps most of the engineers it trains, but it trains far too few and starts from one of the least-credentialed adult workforces in the country, so the megaprojects staff up with imported labor.

Engineering grads working in NV

73.2%

of 870 NSHE engineering (CIP 14) graduates employed in Nevada within a year, 2020-21 cohort, NSHE Board of Regents report, Jan 2025

Adults with any post-HS credential

44.7%

vs. 54.7% nationally, Lumina Foundation report via KRNV News 4, Mar 2026

NV residents on Tesla expansion crews

38%

construction-worker Nevada residency on the 2023 abatement project, below the 50% rule, GOED FY2025 Tesla report, Oct 2025

Sources: NSHE State of the System (Jan 2025); Lumina Foundation via KRNV News 4 (Mar 2026); GOED Tesla FY25 annual report (Oct 2025)

Who’s covering it.

Reporters already cover this, but no one has combined it into a single number the way the Index does.

OutletStoryWhat it covers

The Nevada Independent

Have data center tax breaks helped Nevada's economy? Here's what we found.

Mar 2026. Finds $457M in approved abatements bought about 300 permanent jobs and that GOED never checks the promised returns, the clearest evidence that Nevada's incentives attract capital but few permanent jobs.

The Nevada Independent

Voters are fired up over data centers. Do Nevada candidates care?

May 2026. Governor and Reno mayoral candidates split on pausing abatements, with several proposing performance-tied incentives, an opening to attach pipeline requirements.

Transport Topics

First Tesla Semi Rolls Off High-Volume Production Line

Apr 2026. The Reno Semi plant, rated for 50,000 trucks a year, starts volume output six years late; each production increase brings engineering hires Nevada mostly recruits from out of state.

Nevada Appeal / NNBW

Lithium Americas: 900 construction workers at Thacker Pass mine

Mar 2026. Workforce to double this year toward a 2027 finish, with the company flagging a coming need for electricians and controls talent in a rural county of few graduates.

KRNV News 4

Nevada report: Only 44.7% have a post-high school credential, far below US average

Mar 2026. Lumina data show Nevada more than 10 points behind the nation on credentials, the base problem beneath a thin engineering pipeline.

Nevada Appeal

EDAWN: 'Economy is strong' and 'firing on all cylinders'

Feb 2025. Northern Nevada recruited 22 companies and 1,900 jobs at $85K average in 2024 and expects 61,500 more residents by 2033, demand growing far faster than local degree output.

The fix, in Nevada.

Tie abatements to Nevada engineers

GOED already audits Tesla's Nevada-resident headcount and clawbacks. Add a Digital ROTC clause to the $1B and $3.5B abatement tiers: sponsor a fixed number of UNR, UNLV, TMCC and CSN engineering and technician seats per $100M abated, with graduates owing service years at the site.

Service-for-tuition at TMCC and CSN

Thacker Pass and the Semi plant say their next hires are electricians and controls technicians. Fund two-year and stackable engineering-tech programs at Truckee Meadows and College of Southern Nevada with tuition forgiven for a service term at a Nevada abated employer.

Keep the 73% and raise the count

Nevada retains nearly three quarters of the engineers it graduates, so the bottleneck is volume. A state-backed loan-repayment or stipend for engineering seniors who commit to three years in-state lets Nevada train its own engineers rather than importing 62% of Tesla's construction crews.

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 Nevada, 15% of engineering-track credentials are associate degrees today. Digital ROTC is built to expand that community-college route.

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