R&D spend as a percentage of revenue by industry, from 10-K disclosures

Across 81 US public companies in 19 sectors, disclosed R&D runs 0.1% to 23.6% of revenue, median 1.5%. Among sectors with at least three filers, the heaviest is Leisure at a median of 4.4% and the leanest is Packaging & Containers at 0.3%. From each company's latest 10-K; updated September 2026. Only companies that disclose a dollar figure for R&D appear; most filers do not, and an absent line is absent, not zero. The figure is the filer's own, as a percent of the same year's revenue.

Leisure: median 4.4% across 4 companies (range 1.4% to 7.2%); Renewable Utilities: median 3.7% across 8 companies (range 1.1% to 8.1%); Environmental Services: median 3.1% across 3 companies (range 1.3% to 5.3%); Aerospace & Defense: median 2.3% across 8 companies (range 0.2% to 4.0%); Consumer durables and housewares: median 2.2% across 6 companies (range 0.5% to 3.1%); Railroads: median 2.0% across 5 companies (range 0.7% to 4.8%); Tools and industrial: median 2.0% across 7 companies (range 1.4% to 3.7%); Building products: median 1.5% across 7 companies (range 0.4% to 3.2%); Branded household and personal care: median 1.3% across 7 companies (range 0.8% to 2.6%); Packaged-food: median 1.0% across 9 companies (range 0.3% to 1.7%); Tobacco: median 0.7% across 4 companies (range 0.1% to 2.5%); Packaging & Containers: median 0.3% across 4 companies (range 0.2% to 1.5%). Sectors with fewer than three filers are in the table but not summarised here, because a median of one or two companies is not a benchmark.

Only companies that disclose a dollar figure for R&D appear; most filers do not, and an absent line is absent, not zero. The figure is the filer's own, as a percent of the same year's revenue. Each company's briefing page shows its peer set and the disclosed lines; the JSON link carries the numbers.