Engineering Gap Index All states →

Ohio

13,808
engineers a year
at China’s rate
See the numbers ↓

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.

← #22 New York#23 of 51#24 Minnesota →

Ohio at China’s rate would graduate 21,367 engineers a year. It graduates 7,559.

Ohio produces 7,559 engineering and computer science bachelor's degrees a year out of 64,359 total, a mid-pack engineering producer, from 60 institutions. At China's rate it would produce 21,367. Output is shrinking (-0.7% over three years). Gap Score: 35% of the China benchmark. Its own economy is projected to open 14,360 engineering, computing and technician jobs a year through 2034; in-state degrees, associate and bachelor's together, cover 60% of them.

Engineering + CS share of bachelor’s degrees
11.7%
Below the national 12.3%; 35% of the way to China’s 33.2%.
Missing engineers a year at China’s rate
13,808
8,531 at a conservative 25%, and 5,313 at 20%.
Three-year trend, share of degrees
11.511.812.0
Output down 0.7% in degrees, 2022-23 to 2024-25.
National rank by share
#23
of 51 by share; #24 per capita, 116 missing engineers per 100k residents (pop. 11.9M).
What they study
63% eng
37% computer science. 12% of the state’s eng+CS output is at the associate level, the two-year pathway.
Job openings a year, engineers + computing + technicians
14,360
60% covered by the state’s own degrees, all levels; #23 of 51 on coverage.

The gap against China’s benchmark

Ohio, today11.7%
United States, today12.3%
China benchmark33.2%
13,808 missing engineering and CS bachelor’s degrees a year at China’s 33.2% rate.

Three-year trend: eng+CS share of degrees

11.5%11.8%12.0%
2022–232023–242024–25

Ohio is missing 13,808 engineers a year at China's rate, roughly 7x the annual output of Ohio State University-Main Campus.

Where Ohio’s engineers are made.

60 institutions produce engineering or computer science bachelor’s degrees in Ohio. The top 8 account for 75% of output.

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

Ohio State University-Main Campus, Columbus: 1,872 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 16.5% of its degreesUniversity of Cincinnati-Main Campus, Cincinnati: 1,309 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 20.5% of its degreesCase Western Reserve University, Cleveland: 487 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 35.0% of its degreesUniversity of Toledo, Toledo: 457 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 18.9% of its degreesMiami University-Oxford, Oxford: 447 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 10.8% of its degreesUniversity of Akron Main Campus, Akron: 410 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 21.2% of its degreesUniversity of Dayton, Dayton: 394 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 20.1% of its degreesCleveland State University, Cleveland: 301 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 14.1% of its degreesOhio University-Main Campus, Athens: 271 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 6.1% of its degreesWright State University-Main Campus, Dayton: 224 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 16.2% of its degreesKent State University at Kent, Kent: 196 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 4.4% of its degreesYoungstown State University, Youngstown: 187 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 11.3% of its degreesBowling Green State University-Main Campus, Bowling Green: 139 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 4.9% of its degreesOhio Northern University, Ada: 136 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 26.4% of its degreesCedarville University, Cedarville: 118 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 14.0% of its degreesUniversity of Mount Union, Alliance: 41 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 10.2% of its degreesBaldwin Wallace University, Berea: 39 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 6.0% of its degreesOberlin College, Oberlin: 38 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 5.5% of its degreesKent State University at Trumbull, Warren: 37 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 76.0% of its degreesOtterbein University, Westerville: 29 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 6.0% of its degreesThe College of Wooster, Wooster: 29 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 7.0% of its degreesMarietta College, Marietta: 27 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 11.6% of its degreesXavier University, Cincinnati: 27 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 2.2% of its degreesShawnee State University, Portsmouth: 26 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 7.2% of its degreesDenison University, Granville: 25 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 4.6% of its degreesMiami University-Hamilton, Hamilton: 25 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 6.3% of its degreesJohn Carroll University, University Heights: 22 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 3.8% of its degreesFranciscan University of Steubenville, Steubenville: 21 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 3.9% of its degreesWright State University-Lake Campus, Celina: 19 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 13.1% of its degreesCentral State University, Wilberforce: 16 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 1.8% of its degreesTiffin University, Tiffin: 16 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 4.1% of its degreesAshland University, Ashland: 12 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 2.5% of its degreesCapital University, Columbus: 12 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 2.7% of its degreesThe University of Findlay, Findlay: 12 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 2.9% of its degreesMount Vernon Nazarene University, Mount Vernon: 12 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 3.7% of its degreesKent State University at Stark, North Canton: 11 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 45.7% of its degreesWittenberg University, Springfield: 11 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 3.9% of its degreesHeidelberg University, Tiffin: 10 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 5.2% of its degreesMuskingum University, New Concord: 10 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 3.3% of its degreesOhio Dominican University, Columbus: 9 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 5.0% of its degreesWalsh University, North Canton: 9 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 2.8% of its degreesKent State University at Ashtabula, Ashtabula: 8 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 42.6% of its degreesKent State University at Geauga, Burton: 8 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 61.0% of its degreesOhio Wesleyan University, Delaware: 8 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 2.6% of its degreesMount St. Joseph University, Cincinnati: 7 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 3.3% of its degreesMalone University, Canton: 5 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 2.7% of its degreesKent State University at Tuscarawas, New Philadelphia: 4 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 6.3% of its degreesUniversity of Rio Grande, Rio Grande: 4 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 3.1% of its degreesDefiance College, Defiance: 3 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 3.5% of its degreesHiram College, Hiram: 3 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 2.0% of its degreesWilberforce University, Wilberforce: 3 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 4.0% of its degreesOhio Christian University, Circleville: 2 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 1.2% of its degreesKent State University at East Liverpool, East Liverpool: 2 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 85.7% of its degreesMiami University-Middletown, Middletown: 2 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 1.9% of its degreesHerzing University-Akron, Akron: 1 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 7.5% of its degreesBluffton University, Bluffton: 1 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 0.5% of its degreesClark State College, Springfield: 1 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 12.0% of its degreesKent State University at Salem, Salem: 1 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 3.4% of its degreesNotre Dame College, Cleveland: 1 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 1.0% of its degreesLourdes University, Sylvania: 0 eng+CS bachelor's/yr, 0.2% of its degrees12345678
Ohio State University-Main Campus alone is 25% of the state's output.Swipe the map →

Top producers

#InstitutionEng+CS / yr% of its degrees
1Ohio State University-Main Campus1,87216.5%
2University of Cincinnati-Main Campus1,30920.5%
3Case Western Reserve University48735.0%
4University of Toledo45718.9%
5Miami University-Oxford44710.8%
6University of Akron Main Campus41021.2%
7University of Dayton39420.1%
8Cleveland State University30114.1%
Top 8 shown = 75% of state output. 52 more institutions produce the remaining 25%, all shown on the map. Bachelor's degrees, matching the state totals above. IPEDS Completions C2023–C2025, first majors; 3-yr average.

Jobs vs. degrees

Ohio'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)14,360
Eng + CS degrees produced per year (associate + bachelor’s)8,611
of which net new jobs per year (growth only)895

Where the openings are

OccupationOpenings / yr
Software Developers2,750
Industrial Engineers1,510
Computer User Support Specialists1,190
Computer Systems Analysts990
Mechanical Engineers980
Network and Computer Systems Administrators650

Coverage: degrees ÷ openings

60%
of Ohio's projected openings are covered by its own degrees. Rank #23 of 51; U.S.: 54%. Demand: 121 openings per 100k residents (U.S.: 143).
Ohio's colleges cover 60% of the engineering, computing and technician jobs its economy opens every year. The other 5,749 a year, 3x the annual output of Ohio State University-Main Campus, 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: Ohio labor-market projections via Projections Central (U.S. Dept. of Labor).

What the gap is costing Ohio

Ohio has spent billions in incentives on megaprojects that need engineers, while its own supply of engineers has stalled. The state already opens 14,360 engineering, computing and technician jobs a year and graduates 8,611.

Intel, New Albany
~$2B
State incentive package for the $28B fab complex, including a $650M job-creation tax credit. First chips were promised for 2025; Intel now targets operations in 2030-31, and although construction sped up in 2026 it has announced no customer for Ohio output. The industry it anchors faces a projected 67,000 unfilled U.S. semiconductor jobs by 2030; 58% of new roles are at risk of going unfilled at current degree-completion rates.
Intel Newsroom; Manufacturing Dive; SIA / Oxford Economics semiconductor workforce study.
Anduril, Arsenal-1
$830M
Ohio's largest jobs deal ever: a $310M grant, $452M in tax credits, ~$70M in site financing for 4,008 promised jobs at $132,000 average salary by 2035. Those are engineering and advanced-manufacturing jobs, hired from a state pipeline producing 0.7% fewer engineers over three years, while national output rose about 8%.
Axios Columbus; Ohio Capital Journal; IPEDS 3-yr trend.
Statewide cost
$1.2B+
Four megaproject tax-credit deals alone have cost Ohio over $1.2B. Nationally, Deloitte and the Manufacturing Institute project 3.8M manufacturing jobs to fill by 2033, with 1.9M of them at risk of going unfilled. Ohio's 687,000 manufacturing workers generate $137.9B of state GDP, the largest exposure of any swing state.
Dayton Daily News; Deloitte & The Manufacturing Institute skills-gap study (April 2024).

The drain.

Ohio also loses many of the engineers it educates to other states. Economists on the Ohio Capital Journal's 2024 panel argued that skilled immigration was masking the outflow of educated native-born Ohioans.

Grads working in Ohio after 1 yr
80%
of Ohio college graduates, Ohio Department of Higher Education 2022 Year in Review, via Columbus Dispatch
Still in Ohio at 5 and 10 yrs
74% / ~70%
73.8% five years out and almost 70% ten years out, same report
Net domestic migration, 2021 to 2025
−32,482 to +11,926
Ohio lost residents to other states through 2024 while international arrivals of 35,000 to 56,000 a year drove its growth, Census Bureau Vintage 2025 estimates

Sources: Ohio Department of Higher Education 2022 Year in Review via Columbus Dispatch; U.S. Census Bureau Vintage 2025 population estimates; Ohio Capital Journal economists' panel (May 2024)

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
Ohio Capital Journal
Ohio spends billions to create jobs. Economists say the lack of jobs is making people leave
Jan 2026. Weighs incentive spending against population loss and reports the economists' panel on brain drain and immigration.
Manufacturing Dive
Intel delays Ohio chip project again, to 2030-31
Intel's New Albany fab slips five years past its promised opening.
WOSU Public Media
A semiconductor workforce shortage is on the horizon
Covers Columbus State's one-year semiconductor technician certificate, an associate-level pathway that is still very small.
Dayton Daily News
Are Ohio tax credits worth the return? 4 projects cost over $1.2B
Tallies what four megaproject tax-credit deals have cost taxpayers.
Ohio Capital Journal
Economists: Immigration is counteracting Ohio's brain drain
Measures how many Ohio graduates leave the state.
Midstory / Fordham Institute Ohio
Can Ohio turn the tables on brain drain?
Longer reporting and policy research on graduate retention, including the GROW Act.

The fix, in Ohio.

1

Scale the associate pathway

Columbus State's one-year semiconductor technician certificate is a model worth copying: stackable credits designed with industry. But associate-level credentials are only 12% of Ohio's engineering pipeline. A Digital ROTC cohort model, service for tuition, could triple it using the community colleges and universities Ohio already has.

2

Tie incentives to pipeline

Ohio attached almost no workforce-supply conditions to $3B+ in megaproject incentives. Every future deal should carry a matched pipeline investment.

3

Pay people to stay

Ohio loses 12% of its graduates net. Service-linked tuition forgiveness, the ROTC mechanic, is the only retention tool with a track record: you earn the degree in Ohio, you owe Ohio the first years of your career.

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 Ohio, 12% of engineering-track credentials are associate degrees today. Digital ROTC is built to expand that community-college route.

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