By the numbers
University’s regional economic impact
Princeton NJ — The University has a major economic impact on Mercer County and the state of New Jersey. Statistics gathered for the fiscal year ending in June 2007 quantified the University’s economic effect on the region.
• Princeton’s overall regional economic impact amounted to about $2 billion. This is based on the University’s total expenditures of approximately $1 billion, which included $74 million for the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, plus expenditures by people attending events on campus and by students and employees.
Princeton University has a significant economic impact on Mercer County and the state of New Jersey, due in part to the 700,000 visitors that came to campus last year. The McCarter Theatre Center attracted 180,000 visitors, generating $31 million in economic impact for the region. (photo: John Jameson)
• The University is one of the largest private employers in the region, with some 5,400 benefits-eligible workers. Princeton’s payroll was $421.4 million, with state income taxes paid by University employees totaling $14.3 million.
• Capital construction, another major expenditure of the University, was $181.9 million. During the last decade, it has exceeded $1.4 billion.
• The campus attracted about 700,000 visitors. About 250,000 people attended athletic events, while 180,000 visited the McCarter Theatre Center, which generated $31 million in economic impact for the region. Other concerts and performances drew 80,000 people, the Princeton University Art Museum brought in 84,700 visitors, and summer events — which included non-alumni-related conferences, camps and academic programs — attracted 30,000 visitors.
• Princeton continues to play an important role in attracting international corporations to central New Jersey, particularly to the University-developed Forrestal Center properties in Plainsboro and South Brunswick. These lands feature office, retail and residential space as well as academic space, with an approximate assessed valuation of $1 billion in Plainsboro and South Brunswick.
• In addition, the University also has helped spur the high-tech alley on U.S. Route 1 by helping to create hundreds of new jobs through research and development. For example, in the past decade the University’s multidisciplinary research centers, including the Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials, have formed research and development partnerships with approximately 275 New Jersey-based companies and entrepreneurs in a wide array of fields, including environmental monitoring, medicine, telecommunications and nanotechnology.
Source: Princeton University “Profile,” 2007-08
