Greater Phoenix: Equipped with a large labor pool
Greater Phoenix is home to over 40 universities and institutions of higher learning that prepare the market’s workforce across a variety of industries making it one of the top research and development cities. The Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University is the largest engineering school in the nation with 31,752 students enrolled in 2023 and 6,837 total degrees granted from 2022 to 2023.
Source: ASU Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering
Talented Graduates
Arizona State University’s engineering program ranked in the top 25 public institutions, according to U.S. News & World Report.
State Support
Arizona is supportive of research, especially when it includes our universities, and offers aggressive refundable and nonrefundable corporate income tax credits.
Prepared Workforce
Some of the most prepared graduates in the country are in Greater Phoenix. According to Global Employability University Ranking & Survey, Arizona State University ranked 13th nationally for employable graduates.
Greater Phoenix: By the Numbers
74
Arizona State University accepted 74 National Merit Scholars in 2021-2022
Source: 2021-2022 National Merit Scholars Annual Report
25th
In 2023, the University of Arizona ranked as the 25th-best public research university
Source: Times Higher Education, 2023
8,011
In 2022-2023, the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University had a total enrollment of 8,011 international students
Source: ASU Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering
Why Greater Phoenix? There’s an abundance of employees and competitive labor costs.
Tax Credits
Refundable and nonrefundable corporate income tax credits for qualified research and development done in Arizona, including company funded research at a state university for 24% of first $2.5 million in qualifying expenses plus 15% of the qualifying expenses in excess of $2.5 million. These credits have enabled Phoenix to rank as one of the best operations cities for research.
Source: Arizona Commerce Authority
Established Hub
What are the best research cities you may ask? Many companies come to Greater Phoenix for research and development. Greater Phoenix has become a top place to perform research due to the qualified candidates graduating from Arizona’s universities, the variety of tax credits and the amount of profit that can be made.
Companies in Greater Phoenix
- AMSL
- Avnet
- Axon
- BAE Systems
- Banner Health
- Bechtel
- Belcan
- Bishop Fox
- Blue Yonder
- Bridgestone
- Garmin
- General Dynamics
- GM
- Honeywell
- Insight
- Insys Development Company Inc
- Intel
- Inter Coastal Electronics Inc
- International Rectifier
- Kudelski Group
- Laser Components DG
- Local Motors
- Medtronic
- Microchip
- NeoLight
- NXP Semiconductors
- ON Semiconductors
- PADT
- Stealth Software
- Waymo
