In his annual State of the University speech on Oct. 8, University of Rhode Island President Marc Parlange said URI has generated $2 billion in economic impact for the state of Rhode Island during the 2025 fiscal year.
URI generated $539.9 million in direct spending alone, including operational expenditures, salaries, capital investments and research. The rest came from indirect spending by students and visitors, URI employees, and local businesses, adding $1.46 billion.
“URI supports nearly 18,000 jobs, one in every 33 across the state,” Vice President of Communications and Marketing Matthew McDonald said in an email. “For every $1 invested by the state of Rhode Island, URI returns $17.39 to the state’s economy.”
URI used $135.2 million in tax revenue to help fund public services, infrastructure, education and community development across Rhode Island, according to McDonald. This includes funding to help the state continue to build its higher education, healthcare, technology, construction, hospitality and professional services.
The university has seen a 28% increase from its FY23 plan, where it had 75,900 visitors, and has since increased to 97,171 visitors in its FY25 plan. This does not include visitors to students and faculty, athletic events and out of state vendors who do business with URI.
In the FY25 plan, URI is estimated to have attracted up to 635,566 visitors from outside Rhode Island.
URI hired consulting firm Tripp Umbach to work on this project as they had a strong background in economics and community development for consulting, according to the URI Economic Impact report.
The rest of the report can be found online.
