Taulbee Survey 2025: Annual Report

Computing Research Association

Doctoral Programs

Summary

This section tracks doctoral-level applications, enrollment, degree production, and career outcomes in computer science (CS), computer engineering (CE), and information (IN) programs reported by responding Taulbee units. The most important findings this year are as follows:

  • Application growth was driven almost entirely by international student demand. International PhD applications across the cohort jumped from 15,469† in 2022 to 29,071† in 2025 (+87.9%†), while domestic applications grew from 4,444† to 6,419† (+44.4%†) over the same window (Figure D14.a). International students now outnumber domestic applicants by more than four to one.

  • New enrollments into computing doctoral programs are cooling. After peaking at 1,714† in 2021, new CS doctoral enrollments first declined in 2022 and after increasing for a couple of years, they showed a decline of 15%† in 2025 compared to 2024 (Figure D5.a).

  • CS doctoral degree production hit a record high. Across the longitudinal cohort, CS doctorates awarded rose to 1,351† in 2025, up 50.6%† over five years and 16.1%† in the past year alone (Figure D1.a). Total CS doctoral enrollment in the cohort also reached a new peak of 10,056†, up 24.8%† since 2020 (Figure D6.a).

  • Industry remained the top destination for new PhDs. Among US-awarded PhDs with known employment in the longitudinal cohort, industry’s share grew from 60.4%† in 2020 to 61.4%† in 2025 (Figure D15.b).

How to interpret the data in this section. Charts that show a trend over time are based on a longitudinal cohort of 63 units that reported a complete degrees-awarded + enrollment pair for at least one doctoral field (CS, CE, or IN) in every year from 2020 to 2025. Statistics drawn from this section cohort are flagged with a dagger (†). This is a change from prior years, when trends were reported as the combined totals of all responding units. Most tables describe only the most recent year (2025) reflecting all responding units for that year. See the section titled Section Cohort at the bottom of this section for how the cohort compares to the full sample.

New Doctoral Applications

The composition of the doctoral applicant pool has shifted decisively toward international students. International PhD applications across the cohort grew from 15,469† in 2022 to 29,071† in 2025 (+87.9%†), while domestic applications grew from 4,444† to 6,419† (+44.4%†) over the same window (Figure D14.a). International students now outnumber domestic applicants by more than four to one.

Table D14.a: PhD Applications by Gender and Residency (2025)
Gender # units Domestic International Total % International
Male 7,702 22,962 30,664 74.9%
Female 2,468 7,144 9,612 74.3%
Nonbinary/Other 93 84 177 47.5%
Total Known Gender 10,263 30,190 40,453 74.6%
Gender Unknown 554 6,260 6,814 91.9%
Total 125 10,817 36,450 47,267 77.1%
Table D14.d: PhD Applications of Domestic Students, Breakdown by Gender & Race/Ethnicity (2025)
Race/Ethnicity Male Female Nonbinary/Other Not Available Total
Indigenous or Alaskan Native 7 13 0 0 20
Asian 2,179 808 47 83 3,117
Black or African American 215 125 6 14 360
Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander 4 2 0 0 6
White 1,820 670 65 82 2,637
More than one Race 204 106 17 11 338
Hispanic or Latino 347 130 9 14 500
Total Known Race/Ethnicity 4,776 1,854 144 204 6,978
Race/Ethnicity Not Available 2,289 848 80 2,296 5,513
Total 7,065 2,702 224 2,500 12,491
% Black/Indigenous/Hispanic 11.9% 14.5% 10.4% 13.7% 12.6%

Please note that not all units provide race/ethnicity information, which is why totals may not add up to domestic totals from the PhD applications tab.

New Doctoral Acceptances

Acceptance counts (Figure D14.b) follow the same residency pattern as applications: international acceptances vastly outnumber domestic. The domestic acceptance pool remains lower than the application pool, reflecting both yield and admissions selectivity. Table D14.f breaks domestic acceptances down by gender and race/ethnicity, where Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, and Indigenous/Alaskan Native students consist of only 13.8% of all domestic PhD offers extended.

Table D14.b: PhD Acceptances by Gender and Residency (2025)
Gender # units Domestic International Total % International
Male 1,057 2,740 3,797 72.2%
Female 466 901 1,367 65.9%
Nonbinary/Other 20 3 23 13.0%
Total Known Gender 1,543 3,644 5,187 70.3%
Gender Unknown 167 601 768 78.3%
Total 141 1,710 4,245 5,955 71.3%
Table D14.f: PhD Acceptances of Domestic Students by Gender & Race/Ethnicity (2025)
Race/Ethnicity Male Female Nonbinary/Other Not Available Total
Indigenous or Alaskan Native 8 7 0 0 15
Asian 266 118 2 31 417
Black or African American 33 24 1 10 68
Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander 1 0 0 0 1
White 315 124 6 35 480
More than one Race 46 18 3 4 71
Hispanic or Latino 47 20 0 5 72
Total Known Race/Ethnicity 716 311 12 85 1,124
Race/Ethnicity Not Available 310 145 5 54 514
Total 1,026 456 17 139 1,638
% Black/Indigenous/Hispanic 12.3% 16.4% 8.3% 17.6% 13.8%

New Doctoral Enrollment

By Gender

The gender composition of new CS doctoral admissions has been slowly improving over the longitudinal window (Figure D11.a), but the absolute share remains low and has declined in CS by 22%† compared to last year. However, notably the number of reported Gender Unknowns has increased by 13.1%†. Among all 2025 respondents, female students made up roughly 24% of CS new doctoral admissions with known gender (Table D11.a).

Table D11.a: New Doctoral Enrollment in Computer Science by Gender (2025)
Gender CS Doctoral Enrollment CS %
Male 1,868 75.6%
Female 593 24.0%
Nonbinary/Other 11 0.4%
Total Known Gender 2,472
Gender Unknown 331
Total 2,803
Table D11.b: Doctoral Enrollment in Computer Engineering (CE) by Gender (2025)
Gender CE Doctoral Enrollment CE %
Male 118 80.8%
Female 28 19.2%
Nonbinary/Other 0 0.0%
Total Known Gender 146
Gender Unknown 2
Total 148
Table D11.c: New Doctoral Enrollment in Information (IN) by Gender (2025)
Gender IN Doctoral Enrollment IN %
Male 98 52.7%
Female 85 45.7%
Nonbinary/Other 3 1.6%
Total Known Gender 186
Gender Unknown 3
Total 189

By Race/Ethnicity

The racial/ethnic composition of new CS doctoral enrollments are predominantly Nonresident students (Figure D12.a), in line with the application-pool composition above. Among domestic admissions, White and Asian students account for the large majority; Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous students each remain a small share of new CS doctoral admissions (Table D12.a).

Table D12.a: New Doctoral Enrollment in Computer Science (CS) by Race/Ethnicity (2025)
Race/Ethnicity CS Doctoral Enrollment % of Total
Resident, White 309 11.0%
Resident, Asian 231 8.2%
Resident, Hispanic or Latino 46 1.6%
Resident, Black or African American 37 1.3%
Resident, More than One Race 27 1.0%
Resident, Indigenous or Alaska Native 1 0.0%
Resident, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander 1 0.0%
Resident, Race/Ethnicity Not Available 128 4.6%
Total Resident 780 27.8%
Nonresident 1,798 64.1%
Residency Status and Race/Ethnicity Not Available 225
Total 2,803
Table D12.b: New Doctoral Enrollment in Computer Engineering (CE) by Race/Ethnicity (2025)
Race/Ethnicity CE Doctoral Enrollment % of Total
Resident, White 15 10.1%
Resident, Asian 5 3.4%
Resident, Hispanic or Latino 1 0.7%
Resident, Black or African American 0 0.0%
Resident, More than One Race 2 1.4%
Resident, Indigenous or Alaska Native 0 0.0%
Resident, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander 0 0.0%
Resident, Race/Ethnicity Not Available 24 16.2%
Total Resident 47 31.8%
Nonresident 93 62.8%
Residency Status and Race/Ethnicity Not Available 8
Total 148
Table D12.c: New Doctoral Enrollment in Information (IN) by Race/Ethnicity (2025)
Race/Ethnicity IN Doctoral Enrollment % of Total
Resident, White 32 16.9%
Resident, Asian 21 11.1%
Resident, Hispanic or Latino 6 3.2%
Resident, Black or African American 14 7.4%
Resident, More than One Race 1 0.5%
Resident, Indigenous or Alaska Native 1 0.5%
Resident, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander 0 0.0%
Resident, Race/Ethnicity Not Available 3 1.6%
Total Resident 78 41.3%
Nonresident 97 51.3%
Residency Status and Race/Ethnicity Not Available 14
Total 189

By Gender & Race/Ethnicity

Figures describing the gender & race/ethnicity composition of new doctoral enrollments (Figure D13.a) shows that female students make up a particularly small share of new CS doctoral enrollments, especially female Black or African American, female Hispanic or Latino, and female Indigenous or Alaskan Native students.

Table D13.a: New Doctoral Enrollment in Computer Science (CS) by Gender and Race/Ethnicity (2025)
Residency and Race/Ethnicity Male % of M Female % of F NB/Other % of NBO N/R Total Total %
Nonresident 1,254 74.4% 349 68.7% 2 33.3% 193 1,798 73.4%
Resident, Asian 155 9.2% 56 11.0% 1 16.7% 19 231 9.4%
Resident, Black or African American 18 1.1% 13 2.6% 0 0.0% 6 37 1.5%
Resident, Hispanic or Latino 34 2.0% 10 2.0% 0 0.0% 2 46 1.9%
Resident, Indigenous or Alaska Native 1 0.1% 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 0 1 0.0%
Resident, More than One Race 18 1.1% 5 1.0% 1 16.7% 3 27 1.1%
Resident, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander 1 0.1% 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 0 1 0.0%
Resident, White 204 12.1% 75 14.8% 2 33.3% 28 309 12.6%
Total Residency & Ethnicity Known 1,685 508 6 251 2,450
Residency Status and Race/Ethnicity Not Available 111 6.6% 54 10.6% 2 33.3% 58 225 9.2%
Resident, Race/Ethnicity Not Available 72 4.3% 31 6.1% 3 50.0% 22 128 5.2%
Total 1,868 593 11 331 2,803
Table D13.b: New Doctoral Enrollment in Computer Engineering (CE) by Gender and Race/Ethnicity (2025)
Residency and Race/Ethnicity Male % of M Female % of F NB/Other % of NBO N/R Total Total %
Nonresident 74 79.6% 19 82.6% 0 0% 0 93 80.2%
Resident, Asian 2 2.2% 3 13.0% 0 0% 0 5 4.3%
Resident, Hispanic or Latino 0 0.0% 1 4.3% 0 0% 0 1 0.9%
Resident, More than One Race 2 2.2% 0 0.0% 0 0% 0 2 1.7%
Resident, White 15 16.1% 0 0.0% 0 0% 0 15 12.9%
Total Residency & Ethnicity Known 93 23 0 0 116
Residency Status and Race/Ethnicity Not Available 4 4.3% 2 8.7% 0 0% 2 8 6.9%
Resident, Race/Ethnicity Not Available 21 22.6% 3 13.0% 0 0% 0 24 20.7%
Total 118 28 0 2 148
Table D13.c: New Doctoral Enrollment in Information (IN) by Gender and Race/Ethnicity (2025)
Residency and Race/Ethnicity Male % of M Female % of F NB/Other % of NBO N/R Total Total %
Nonresident 48 54.5% 46 59.0% 1 33.3% 2 97 56.4%
Resident, Asian 12 13.6% 7 9.0% 1 33.3% 1 21 12.2%
Resident, Black or African American 5 5.7% 8 10.3% 1 33.3% 0 14 8.1%
Resident, Hispanic or Latino 3 3.4% 3 3.8% 0 0.0% 0 6 3.5%
Resident, Indigenous or Alaska Native 0 0.0% 1 1.3% 0 0.0% 0 1 0.6%
Resident, More than One Race 0 0.0% 1 1.3% 0 0.0% 0 1 0.6%
Resident, White 20 22.7% 12 15.4% 0 0.0% 0 32 18.6%
Total Residency & Ethnicity Known 88 78 3 3 172
Residency Status and Race/Ethnicity Not Available 9 10.2% 5 6.4% 0 0.0% 0 14 8.1%
Resident, Race/Ethnicity Not Available 1 1.1% 2 2.6% 0 0.0% 0 3 1.7%
Total 98 85 3 3 189

Total Doctoral Enrollment

By Faculty Size

By Gender

Across the longitudinal cohort, total CS doctoral enrollment is roughly 3:1 males to females (Figure D7.a). The number of females enrolled in CS doctoral programs has crept upward but their share has held essentially flat as overall enrollment has grown (Table D7.a). Information continues to enroll the most gender-balanced doctoral student body of the three fields (Figure D7.c).

Table D7.a: Doctoral Enrollment in Computer Science (CS) by Gender (2025)
Gender CS Doctoral Enrollment CS %
Male 11,509 74.7%
Female 3,846 25.0%
Nonbinary/Other 44 0.3%
Total Known Gender 15,399
Gender Unknown 1,590
Total 16,989
Table D7.b: Doctoral Enrollment in Computer Engineering (CE) by Gender (2025)
Gender CE Doctoral Enrollment CE %
Male 707 78.8%
Female 190 21.2%
Nonbinary/Other 0 0.0%
Total Known Gender 897
Gender Unknown 8
Total 905
Table D7.c: Doctoral Enrollment in Information (IN) by Gender (2025)
Gender IN Doctoral Enrollment I %
Male 521 47.3%
Female 568 51.6%
Nonbinary/Other 12 1.1%
Total Known Gender 1,101
Gender Unknown 57
Total 1,158

By Race/Ethnicity

Nonresident students continue to make up the largest share of total CS doctoral enrollment in the cohort (Figure D8.a), which is consistent with what we see in applications, admissions, and degree production. Among domestic students, White and Asian students together account for the bulk of representation; Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, and Indigenous/Alaskan Native shares of CS doctoral enrollment remain in the low single digits (Table D8.a).

Table D8.a: Doctoral Enrollment in Computer Science (CS) by Race/Ethnicity (2025)
Race/Ethnicity CS Doctoral Enrollment % of Total
Resident, White 2,163 12.7%
Resident, Asian 1,320 7.8%
Resident, Hispanic or Latino 307 1.8%
Resident, Black or African American 210 1.2%
Resident, More than One Race 158 0.9%
Resident, Indigenous or Alaska Native 10 0.1%
Resident, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander 28 0.2%
Resident, Race/Ethnicity Not Available 734 4.3%
Total Resident 4,930 29.0%
Nonresident 9,714 57.2%
Residency Status and Race/Ethnicity Not Available 2,345
Total 16,989
Table D8.b: Doctoral Enrollment in Computer Engineering (CE) by Race/Ethnicity (2025)
Race/Ethnicity CE Doctoral Enrollment % of Total
Resident, White 123 13.6%
Resident, Asian 66 7.3%
Resident, Hispanic or Latino 25 2.8%
Resident, Black or African American 6 0.7%
Resident, More than One Race 12 1.3%
Resident, Indigenous or Alaska Native 0 0.0%
Resident, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander 0 0.0%
Resident, Race/Ethnicity Not Available 37 4.1%
Total Resident 269 29.7%
Nonresident 627 69.3%
Residency Status and Race/Ethnicity Not Available 9
Total 905
Table D8.c: Doctoral Enrollment in Information (IN) by Race/Ethnicity (2025)
Race/Ethnicity IN Doctoral Enrollment % of Total
Resident, White 241 20.8%
Resident, Asian 110 9.5%
Resident, Hispanic or Latino 58 5.0%
Resident, Black or African American 74 6.4%
Resident, More than One Race 30 2.6%
Resident, Indigenous or Alaska Native 7 0.6%
Resident, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander 0 0.0%
Resident, Race/Ethnicity Not Available 16 1.4%
Total Resident 536 46.3%
Nonresident 585 50.5%
Residency Status and Race/Ethnicity Not Available 37
Total 1,158

By Gender & Race/Ethnicity

The figures describing total CS doctoral enrollment by gender & race/ethnicity (Figure D10.a) shows the same pattern as new admissions: nonresident men are the single largest subgroup, while female students in several racial/ethnic groups (Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, and Indigenous/Alaskan Native) make up a particularly small share. The 2025 breakdown for CS appears in Table D10.a, with companion tables for CE and IN.

Table D10.a: Doctoral Enrollment in Computer Science (CS) by Gender and Race/Ethnicity (2025)
Residency and Race/Ethnicity Male % of M Female % of F NB/Other % of NBO N/R Total Total %
Nonresident 7,158 70.4% 2,297 67.6% 15 38.5% 244 9,714 69.8%
Resident, Asian 861 8.5% 442 13.0% 6 15.4% 11 1,320 9.5%
Resident, Black or African American 142 1.4% 58 1.7% 0 0.0% 10 210 1.5%
Resident, Hispanic or Latino 240 2.4% 56 1.6% 5 12.8% 6 307 2.2%
Resident, Indigenous or Alaska Native 7 0.1% 2 0.1% 0 0.0% 1 10 0.1%
Resident, More than One Race 114 1.1% 43 1.3% 0 0.0% 1 158 1.1%
Resident, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander 21 0.2% 6 0.2% 0 0.0% 1 28 0.2%
Resident, White 1,631 16.0% 494 14.5% 13 33.3% 25 2,163 15.5%
Total Residency & Ethnicity Known 10,174 3,398 39 299 13,910
Residency Status and Race/Ethnicity Not Available 830 8.2% 254 7.5% 3 7.7% 1,258 2,345 16.9%
Resident, Race/Ethnicity Not Available 505 5.0% 194 5.7% 2 5.1% 33 734 5.3%
Total 11,509 3,846 44 1,590 16,989
Table D10.b: Doctoral Enrollment in Computer Engineering (CE) by Gender and Race/Ethnicity (2025)
Residency and Race/Ethnicity Male % of M Female % of F NB/Other % of NBO N/R Total Total %
Nonresident 491 72.6% 133 75.1% 0 0% 3 627 73.0%
Resident, Asian 49 7.2% 15 8.5% 0 0% 2 66 7.7%
Resident, Black or African American 5 0.7% 1 0.6% 0 0% 0 6 0.7%
Resident, Hispanic or Latino 19 2.8% 6 3.4% 0 0% 0 25 2.9%
Resident, Indigenous or Alaska Native 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 0 0% 0 0 0.0%
Resident, More than One Race 10 1.5% 2 1.1% 0 0% 0 12 1.4%
Resident, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 0 0% 0 0 0.0%
Resident, White 102 15.1% 20 11.3% 0 0% 1 123 14.3%
Total Residency & Ethnicity Known 676 177 0 6 859
Residency Status and Race/Ethnicity Not Available 7 1.0% 1 0.6% 0 0% 1 9 1.0%
Resident, Race/Ethnicity Not Available 24 3.6% 12 6.8% 0 0% 1 37 4.3%
Total 707 190 0 8 905
Table D10.c: Doctoral Enrollment in Information (IN) by Gender and Race/Ethnicity (2025)
Residency and Race/Ethnicity Male % of M Female % of F NB/Other % of NBO N/R Total Total %
Nonresident 258 52.2% 286 52.1% 2 16.7% 39 585 52.9%
Resident, Asian 52 10.5% 54 9.8% 1 8.3% 3 110 10.0%
Resident, Black or African American 28 5.7% 44 8.0% 1 8.3% 1 74 6.7%
Resident, Hispanic or Latino 20 4.0% 36 6.6% 1 8.3% 1 58 5.2%
Resident, Indigenous or Alaska Native 4 0.8% 3 0.5% 0 0.0% 0 7 0.6%
Resident, More than One Race 14 2.8% 12 2.2% 1 8.3% 3 30 2.7%
Resident, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 0 0 0.0%
Resident, White 118 23.9% 114 20.8% 6 50.0% 3 241 21.8%
Total Residency & Ethnicity Known 494 549 12 50 1,105
Residency Status and Race/Ethnicity Not Available 21 4.3% 13 2.4% 0 0.0% 3 37 3.3%
Resident, Race/Ethnicity Not Available 6 1.2% 6 1.1% 0 0.0% 4 16 1.4%
Total 521 568 12 57 1,158

PhDs Enrolled who Passed Qualifiers

Table D15 reports how many enrolled students passed their qualifying exam in 2025. The qualifier counts shown here are cross-sectional and reflect all 2025 respondents, not the longitudinal cohort.

Table D15: PhD Students Who Passed Qualifiers by Department Type (All Units) (2025)
Unit Type Passed Qualifier # Units Avg per Unit
CS 2,143 79 27.1
CE 10 1 10.0
IN 71 7 10.1
CA 176 6 29.3
Grand total 2,400 93 25.8
Table D15: PhD Students Who Passed Qualifiers by Department Type at Public Units (2025)
Unit Type Passed Qualifier # Units Avg per Unit
CS 1,663 56 29.7
CE - - -
IN 53 6 8.8
CA 176 6 29.3
Grand total 1,892 68 27.8
Table D15: PhD Students Who Passed Qualifiers by Department Type at Private Units (2025)
Unit Type Passed Qualifier # Units Avg per Unit
CS 480 23 20.9
CE 10 1 10.0
IN 18 1 18.0
CA - - -
Grand total 508 25 20.3

PhDs Who Passed Their Thesis Defense

Table D16 reports thesis-defense completions in 2025. Like the qualifier counts above, these are cross-sectional and based on all 2025 respondents.

Table D16: PhDs Who Passed Their Thesis Defense by Department Type (All Units) (2025)
Unit Type Passed Thesis # Units with Thesis Avg per Unit
CS 1,311 76 17.2
CE 30 1 30.0
IN 96 10 9.6
CA 146 7 20.9
Grand total 1,583 94 16.8
Table D16: PhDs Who Passed Their Thesis Defense by Department Type at Public Units (2025)
Unit Type Passed Thesis # Units with Thesis Avg per Unit
CS 1,045 59 17.7
CE 30 1 30.0
IN 71 8 8.9
CA 146 7 20.9
Grand total 1,292 75 17.2
Table D16: PhDs Who Passed Their Thesis Defense by Department Type at Private Units (2025)
Unit Type Passed Thesis # Units with Thesis Avg per Unit
CS 266 17 15.6
CE - - -
IN 25 2 12.5
CA - - -
Grand total 291 19 15.3

Disability Accommodations

Disability accommodations reporting for doctoral students remains thin. Only 59 of 141 Taulbee units supplied disability data in this year’s survey, with 2.6% of students being reported as having disability accommodations. Future Taulbee respondents may find Dr. Richard Ladner’s article here on how participating institutions can improve the reporting of this data.

Table D.2a.1: Disability Accommodations in Doctoral Programs (2025)
Metric Value
Number of Units 59
Average Number of Students Per Unit with Accommodations 3.0
Percent of Enrollment With Accommodations 1.9%
Total with Accommodations 179
Total Enrollment 9,325
Percent of Units Reporting Zero Accommodations 49.2%
Max Unit Percent of Students with Accommodations 15.3%

Doctoral Degrees Awarded

Doctoral degree production reached a record high in 2025. Across the longitudinal cohort, CS doctorates rose to 1,351† in 2025, which is up from 897† in 2020 (+50.6%†) and 1,164† in 2024 (+16.1%† year over year) (Figure D1.a). These record degree awarded counts reflect the unwinding of large 2020–2022 admissions cohorts; with new admissions now cooling, this peak may be at or near its high.

By Faculty Size

Normalizing degrees awarded by tenure-track faculty size shows how productivity is distributed across programs. The boxplots below (Figure D16.a) report PhDs-awarded per tenure-track faculty member by unit type, control, and Carnegie classification. The median program awards roughly 0.45† doctorates per tenure-track FTE in 2025.

By Gender

The gender composition of computing doctoral awards has improved only slowly. Among all 2025 respondents, female students earned 414 CS doctorates out of 1,757 with known gender, producing about 23.6% of doctoral degrees at the CS level (Table D2.a). The longitudinal cohort line for CS (Figure D2.a) shows female degree counts slowly rising, but the share of awards going to female students has held essentially flat over the five-year window. Female students earned 45.5% of information doctoral degrees this year and continue to show the strongest gender balance of all three fields.

Table D2.a: Doctoral degrees awarded in computer science (CS) by gender
Gender CS Doctoral Degrees Awarded CS %
Male 1,339 76.2%
Female 414 23.6%
Nonbinary/Other 4 0.2%
Total Known Gender 1,757
Gender Unknown 152
Total 1,909
Table D2.b: Doctoral degrees awarded in computer engineering (CE) by gender
Gender CE Doctoral Degrees Awarded CE %
Male 109 78.4%
Female 30 21.6%
Nonbinary/Other 0 0.0%
Total Known Gender 139
Gender Unknown 2
Total 141
Table D2.c: Doctoral degrees awarded in information (IN) by gender
Gender IN Doctoral Degrees Awarded IN %
Male 77 53.8%
Female 65 45.5%
Nonbinary/Other 1 0.7%
Total Known Gender 143
Gender Unknown 5
Total 148

By Race/Ethnicity

Nonresident students earned roughly half of all CS doctorates in 2025. Of 1,909 CS doctorates awarded to all respondents, 50.4% went to nonresident students and 8.7% went to residents whose race/ethnicity was not available, while 41% were awarded to residents with known race/ethnicity. Among those domestic CS doctorates with known race/ethnicity, the breakdown is sharply skewed: 57.9% White, 30.9% Asian, 4.8% Hispanic/Latino, 3.4% more than one race, 2.6% Black/African American, and roughly 0.4% Indigenous or Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander combined (Table D3.a). Domestic Black/African American and Hispanic/Latino degrees awarded at the doctoral level remain the largest demographic gap of any computing degree level reported in this survey.

Table D3.a: Doctoral Degrees Awarded in Computer Science (CS) by Race/Ethnicity (2025)
Race/Ethnicity CS Doctoral Degrees Awarded CS %
Resident, White 311 16.3%
Resident, Asian 166 8.7%
Resident, Hispanic or Latino 26 1.4%
Resident, Black or African American 14 0.7%
Resident, More than One Race 18 0.9%
Resident, Indigenous or Alaska Native 1 0.1%
Resident, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander 1 0.1%
Resident, Race/Ethnicity Not Available 0 0.0%
Total Resident 537 28.1%
Nonresident 962 50.4%
Residency Status and Race/Ethnicity Not Available 410
Total 1,909
Table D3.b: Doctoral Degrees Awarded in Computer Engineering (CE) by Race/Ethnicity (2025)
Race/Ethnicity CE Doctoral Degrees Awarded CE %
Resident, White 23 16.3%
Resident, Asian 12 8.5%
Resident, Hispanic or Latino 3 2.1%
Resident, Black or African American 1 0.7%
Resident, More than One Race 1 0.7%
Resident, Indigenous or Alaska Native 0 0.0%
Resident, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander 0 0.0%
Resident, Race/Ethnicity Not Available 0 0.0%
Total Resident 40 28.4%
Nonresident 92 65.2%
Residency Status and Race/Ethnicity Not Available 9
Total 141
Table D3.c: Doctoral Degrees Awarded in Information (IN) by Race/Ethnicity (2025)
Race/Ethnicity IN Doctoral Degrees Awarded IN %
Resident, White 43 29.1%
Resident, Asian 13 8.8%
Resident, Hispanic or Latino 1 0.7%
Resident, Black or African American 9 6.1%
Resident, More than One Race 4 2.7%
Resident, Indigenous or Alaska Native 0 0.0%
Resident, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander 0 0.0%
Resident, Race/Ethnicity Not Available 0 0.0%
Total Resident 70 47.3%
Nonresident 73 49.3%
Residency Status and Race/Ethnicity Not Available 5
Total 148

By Gender & Race/Ethnicity

Table D9.a cross-tabulates 2025 CS doctorates by gender and race/ethnicity. The figures below make it especially clear how low degrees production is for several racial/ethnic subgroups (Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, and Indigenous/Alaskan Native): counts in several cells fall into the single digits even in CS, the largest of the three fields. Parallel tables for CE and IN are reported on smaller bases.s

Table D9.a: Doctoral Degrees Awarded in Computer Science (CS) by Gender and Race/Ethnicity (2025)
Residency and Race/Ethnicity Male % of M Female % of F NB/Other % of NBO N/R Total Total %
Nonresident 725 64.3% 227 63.4% 0 0.0% 10 962 64.2%
Resident, Asian, not Hispanic 118 10.5% 47 13.1% 1 33.3% 0 166 11.1%
Resident, Black or African American, not Hispanic 11 1.0% 3 0.8% 0 0.0% 0 14 0.9%
Resident, Hispanic or Latino, any race 23 2.0% 2 0.6% 1 33.3% 0 26 1.7%
Resident, Indigenous or Alaska Native, not Hispanic 1 0.1% 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 0 1 0.1%
Resident, More than One Race, not Hispanic 15 1.3% 3 0.8% 0 0.0% 0 18 1.2%
Resident, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, not Hispanic 1 0.1% 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 0 1 0.1%
Resident, White, not Hispanic 233 20.7% 76 21.2% 1 33.3% 1 311 20.7%
Total Residency & Ethnicity Known 1,127 358 3 11 1,499
Residency Status and Race/Ethnicity Not Available 212 18.8% 56 15.6% 1 33.3% 141 410 27.4%
Total 1,339 414 4 152 1,909
Table D9.b: Doctoral Degrees Awarded in Computer Engineering (CE) by Gender and Race/Ethnicity (2025)
Residency and Race/Ethnicity Male % of M Female % of F NB/Other % of NBO N/R Total Total %
Nonresident 73 70.2% 19 73.1% 0 0% 0 92 69.7%
Resident, Asian, not Hispanic 8 7.7% 3 11.5% 0 0% 1 12 9.1%
Resident, Black or African American, not Hispanic 1 1.0% 0 0.0% 0 0% 0 1 0.8%
Resident, Hispanic or Latino, any race 1 1.0% 2 7.7% 0 0% 0 3 2.3%
Resident, Indigenous or Alaska Native, not Hispanic 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 0 0% 0 0 0.0%
Resident, More than One Race, not Hispanic 1 1.0% 0 0.0% 0 0% 0 1 0.8%
Resident, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, not Hispanic 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 0 0% 0 0 0.0%
Resident, White, not Hispanic 20 19.2% 2 7.7% 0 0% 1 23 17.4%
Total Residency & Ethnicity Known 104 26 0 2 132
Residency Status and Race/Ethnicity Not Available 5 4.8% 4 15.4% 0 0% 0 9 6.8%
Total 109 30 0 2 141
Table D9.c: Doctoral Degrees Awarded in Information (IN) by Gender and Race/Ethnicity (2025)
Residency and Race/Ethnicity Male % of M Female % of F NB/Other % of NBO N/R Total Total %
Nonresident 40 54.8% 29 45.3% 0 0.0% 4 73 51.0%
Resident, Asian, not Hispanic 7 9.6% 6 9.4% 0 0.0% 0 13 9.1%
Resident, Black or African American, not Hispanic 5 6.8% 4 6.2% 0 0.0% 0 9 6.3%
Resident, Hispanic or Latino, any race 0 0.0% 1 1.6% 0 0.0% 0 1 0.7%
Resident, Indigenous or Alaska Native, not Hispanic 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 0 0 0.0%
Resident, More than One Race, not Hispanic 3 4.1% 1 1.6% 0 0.0% 0 4 2.8%
Resident, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, not Hispanic 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 0 0.0% 0 0 0.0%
Resident, White, not Hispanic 18 24.7% 23 35.9% 1 100.0% 1 43 30.1%
Total Residency & Ethnicity Known 73 64 1 5 143
Residency Status and Race/Ethnicity Not Available 4 5.5% 1 1.6% 0 0.0% 0 5 3.5%
Total 77 65 1 5 148

By Specialty

Figure D18.a ranks the primary research specialties of newly awarded computing doctorates in 2025; Figure D18.b shows secondary specialties. AI/ML-aligned specialties continue to claim the largest share of new doctorates.

PhDs Expected Next Year

Table D17.a reports the number of doctoral degrees that units expect to award in the academic year following the survey response. These forward-looking estimates are reported by units themselves and serve as a leading indicator of next year’s award counts.

Table D17.a: Total PhDs Expected Next Year by Department Type (All Units) (2025)
Unit Type Expected PhDs # Units Avg per Unit
CS 1,690 70 24.1
CE 69 2 34.5
IN 90 7 12.9
CA 152 7 21.7
Grand total 2,001 86 23.3
Table D17.b: Total PhDs Expected Next Year by Department Type at Public Units (2025)
Unit Type Expected PhDs # Units Avg per Unit
CS 1,167 52 22.4
CE 65 1 65.0
IN 75 6 12.5
CA 152 7 21.7
Grand total 1,459 66 22.1
Table D17.c: Total PhDs Expected Next Year by Department Type at Private Units (2025)
Unit Type Expected PhDs # Units Avg per Unit
CS 523 18 29.1
CE 4 1 4.0
IN 15 1 15.0
CA - - -
Grand total 542 20 27.1

Career Outcomes

Employment Locations of Computing Doctorates

The overwhelming majority of US-awarded computing doctorates took their first job inside the United States in 2025. Among 2025 US-awarded PhDs with a known location, 93.5% stayed in the United States, 3.1% went to another country other than China, India, the EU, or Canada, and 4.1% combined went to China, India, EU countries, or Canada, with the remaining share unknown (Figure D15.a and Table D15.a). The international flow that does occur is dominated by the EU, China, and “Other” destinations. Canadian-awarded PhD location patterns appear separately (Table D15.c).

Table D15.a: Employment location of US-awarded Computing PhDs
Employment Location Total PhDs % of Known
United States 1,368 92.9%
Canada 12 0.8%
China 23 1.6%
India 4 0.3%
EU Country 20 1.4%
Other 45 3.1%
Total Known Location 1,472
Unknown 621
Total 2,093
Table D15.c: Employment location of Canadian-awarded Computing PhDs
Employment Location Total PhDs % of Known
United States 21 28.8%
Canada 36 49.3%
China 1 1.4%
India 0 0.0%
EU Country 10 13.7%
Other 5 6.8%
Total Known Location 73
Unknown 67
Total 140

Employment Type of Computing Doctorates

Industry remains the single largest destination for US-awarded computing doctorates. In the longitudinal cohort (Figure D15.b), industry’s share of US-awarded PhD employment (as a fraction of known outcomes) fell from 63.1%† in 2022 to 60.0%† in 2023 and 54.8%† in 2024, before climbing back to 61.4%† in 2025. Academia followed an inverse pattern, peaking at 40.1%† in 2024 before falling to 33.1%† in 2025. Government, “Other/Self-Employed,” and unemployment shares remain small and roughly stable. The cross-sectional Table D15.b reflects all 2025 respondents.

Table D15.b: Employment type of US-awarded Computing PhDs
Employment Type Total PhDs % of Known
Academia 488 32.2%
Industry 935 61.7%
Government 44 2.9%
Other/Self-Employed 37 2.4%
Unemployed 11 0.7%
Total Known Type 1,515
Unknown 578
Total 2,093
Table D15.d: Employment type of Canadian-awarded Computing PhDs
Employment Type Total PhDs % of Known
Academia 21 28.4%
Industry 46 62.2%
Government 0 0.0%
Other/Self-Employed 4 5.4%
Unemployed 3 4.1%
Total Known Type 74
Unknown 66
Total 140

Section Cohort

Trend analyses in this section use a longitudinal cohort of 63 units that reported doctoral total enrollment and individual degree-awarded data in every survey year from 2020 to 2025. Cross-sectional tables reflect all units that responded in 2025 and are not restricted to this cohort.

Table D0: Units Included in the Doctoral Programs Section Cohort (2025)
Section Cohort
Full Sample (2025)
N % N %
All Units 63 100.0% 141 100.0%
Control
Public 45 71.4% 104 73.8%
Private 18 28.6% 37 26.2%
Unit Type
CS 56 88.9% 120 85.1%
CE 0 0.0% 2 1.4%
IN 5 7.9% 11 7.8%
CA 2 3.2% 8 5.7%
Carnegie Classification
R1 51 85.0% 109 82.6%
R2 9 15.0% 21 15.9%
M1 0 0.0% 1 0.8%
D/PU 0 0.0% 1 0.8%
Unit Size
1-25 4 6.3% 23 16.3%
26-75 34 54.0% 75 53.2%
76-100 10 15.9% 22 15.6%
>100 15 23.8% 21 14.9%
Locale
City 43 70.5% 103 77.4%
Suburb 17 27.9% 24 18.0%
Town 1 1.6% 6 4.5%