The University of California, Davis, campus and health system are engines for economic growth that generate an annual economic impact estimated between $2.7 and $3.4 billion in California, according to a study released today.

After state government, UC Davis is the second-largest employer in the seven-county capital region, with 29,690 employees in 2001-02, the fiscal year covered in the study. UC Davis paid out $960 million in salaries and wages, and had total revenues of $1.97 billion--half of which came from outside of the area.

"This study shows that UC Davis continues to have a profound positive impact on the long-term economic health of California and the Sacramento region," said Chancellor Larry N. Vanderhoef. "But equally important is the economic benefit derived from the knowledge and discoveries that result from our research, the care provided by our academic health system and the brainpower of more than 6,000 graduates each year."

For every two direct jobs at UC Davis, another job is created in the state of California. And for every dollar that state government invested in the campus, UC Davis returned $5 to the state economy. "It is compelling to realize the state receives a five-fold return in economic activity for each dollar invested in UC Davis," said John Meyer, UC Davis vice chancellor for resource management and planning.

UC Davis collected $426 million in research funding in 2002-03, making it one of the leading research institutions in the nation according to the National Science Foundation. The discoveries that result are increasingly being transferred to the public sector, with 91 patent applications filed in 2001-02, and 37 U.S. and 45 foreign patents were issued.

Vanderhoef noted that many economic impacts are not simple to calculate. "We can't measure the impact of the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts on the local business climate. And we can't easily measure the specific impact of a vaccine to cure feline AIDS, or the creation of a sweeter strawberry or the development of a heartier wine varietal, but clearly California's economy benefits from these intangible contributions as well."

The study, conducted for UC Davis by the Sedway Group of San Francisco, examined all spending, employment, student, alumni, visitor and local tax impacts of the main Davis campus, its Sacramento medical center and health system, for the fiscal year 2001-02, the most current year for which all data was available. It analyzes impacts on the state, the capital region, Yolo County and the city of Davis.

For the purposes of the economic analysis, the consultants used the Impact Analysis for Planning model developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.This is the same model recently used by California State University, Sacramento, and the University of California, Berkeley, for similar studies of those campuses.

Among the specific findings:

-- More than 2,300 California businesses are owned by UC Davis alumni, with 684 of those located in the Sacramento region.

-- UC Davis has generated 45,000 jobs within the state of California--34,000 in the Sacramento region alone.

-- For every dollar that UC Davis spends, it generates an additional 48 cents in indirect spending in the Sacramento region and an additional 75 cents in spending in the state of California.

-- The UC Davis Medical Center treated nearly 1 million patients in 2001-02, with 55,000 emergency room visits and 30,000 patients admitted to the 528-bed hospital.

-- UC Davis students and campus visitors contributed more than $450 million to the capital region's economy in 2001-02, based on spending of $189 million. Student and visitor spending generated more than 2,600 jobs in the capital region.

-- UC Davis and its medical center in Sacramento spent $171 million on capital projects in 2001-02, and $229 million in 2002-2003. More than 125 other active construction projects, estimated at more than $719 million, are in progress on the UC Davis campus. Another $178 million in construction projects is under way at the medical center.

-- Nearly 300,000 people attended concerts, plays and other music events at UC Davis in 2001-02.

-- More than 9,600 people, or one in every three employed residents of the city of Davis, work at UC Davis.

-- Retail sales at UC Davis, including its bookstore, raised $1.9 million in sales tax revenue for local governments.

For more information and the complete report, which may be downloaded, see www.news.ucdavis.edu/economic_impact/.