Utah
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.
Utah at China’s rate would graduate 9,275 engineers a year. It graduates 3,541.
Utah produces 3,541 engineering and computer science bachelor's degrees a year out of 27,937 total, a mid-pack engineering producer, from 11 institutions. At China's rate it would produce 9,275. Output is growing (+18.4% over three years). Gap Score: 38% of the China benchmark. Its own economy is projected to open 7,330 engineering, computing and technician jobs a year through 2034; in-state degrees, associate and bachelor's together, cover 61% of them.
The gap against China’s benchmark
Three-year trend: eng+CS share of degrees
Utah is missing 5,734 engineers a year at China's rate, roughly 5x the annual output of Brigham Young University.
Where Utah’s engineers are made.
11 institutions produce engineering or computer science bachelor’s degrees in Utah. The top 8 account for 99% of output.
Every producing institution. Circle area = eng+CS bachelor’s degrees per year
Top producers
| # | Institution | Eng+CS / yr | % of its degrees |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brigham Young University | 1,050 | 15.7% |
| 2 | University of Utah | 1,034 | 17.9% |
| 3 | Utah State University | 489 | 11.5% |
| 4 | Utah Valley University | 421 | 9.7% |
| 5 | Weber State University | 251 | 9.8% |
| 6 | Neumont College of Computer Science | 100 | 100.0% |
| 7 | Southern Utah University | 83 | 5.0% |
| 8 | Utah Tech University | 65 | 5.2% |
Jobs vs. degrees
Utah'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 | 2,230 |
| Computer User Support Specialists | 750 |
| Computer Occupations, All Other | 380 |
| Civil Engineers | 350 |
| Industrial Engineers | 340 |
| Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers | 340 |
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: Utah labor-market projections via Projections Central (U.S. Dept. of Labor).
Utah's chip fab, missile program and data centers need engineers
Utah landed the largest private investment in its history (an $11B Texas Instruments fab), became the engineering hub for the Air Force's Sentinel ICBM, and is chasing data centers and nuclear under Operation Gigawatt. Its universities graduate about 3,500 engineers and computer scientists a year and keep roughly six in ten of them past year one.
The drain.
Utah keeps most of its engineering graduates at first, then loses a steady share each year; the state leans unusually hard on out-of-state students who come for college and stay.
Sources: Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, Utah's Engineering and Computer Science Workforce (Oct 2022); Strada Institute for the Future of Work, Talent in Motion (Aug 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 Utah.
Tie EDTIF credits to Utah hires
TI's $34.6M and Northrop's $60M post-performance credits reward jobs created regardless of where the engineers come from. Add a Digital ROTC clause: a share of each credit is earned only when the firm sponsors service-for-tuition seats at USHE and Utah technical colleges and hires those graduates in Lehi or Roy.
Fund the reinvestment with service
HB 265 moves $60M into engineering, AI and nursing by cutting elsewhere. Pair the new seats with a Digital ROTC pledge, tuition covered at Salt Lake Community College, UVU and the technical colleges in exchange for a two-year Utah work commitment, so the reinvestment buys retention as well as enrollment.
Make Talent Ready Utah a two-way contract
The Deep Tech Talent Initiative grants (about $1.8M a round) go to programs rather than to students. Route part of it, plus data-center and Operation Gigawatt incentives, into service-for-tuition scholarships aimed at the 30% of engineering grads gone within a year and the 22% who came from out of state and might stay.
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 Utah, 21% of engineering-track credentials are associate degrees today. Digital ROTC is built to expand that community-college route.