Photo by Peter Xie
Michigan’s robotics momentum is still building. In July 2026, FANUC America announced a $90 million, 840,000-square-foot Pontiac expansion to meet rising demand, months after Teradyne selected Wixom for a planned $32 million U.S. collaborative-robot hub.
That momentum is reflected in a new state analysis,
which ranks Michigan as America’s biggest spender on industrial robotic equipment. The state spent $365.0 million, $28.6 million more than second-place Ohio.
TRADESAFE, a provider of industrial safety and compliance products, analyzed 2024 Bureau of Labor Statistics fatality rates alongside 2022 U.S. Economic Census data on state capital expenditures for industrial robotic equipment. It also reviewed 2024 International Federation of Robotics installation data to examine where workplace risk and industrial robot adoption intersect across the country.
Key Takeaways:
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Michigan ranks No. 1 nationally: The state spent $365.0 million on industrial robotic equipment, the highest total of any state with reported data.
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Michigan leads its closest competitor by $28.6 million: Ohio ranked second at $336.4 million, meaning Michigan spent 8.5% more.
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Michigan spent more than five times the bottom 10 combined: The 10 lowest-spending states with reported figures totaled $67.7 million, compared with Michigan’s $365.0 million.
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The gap grows to more than 25 times against the bottom five: Rhode Island, Alaska, Vermont, New Mexico, and Montana spent $14.5 million combined.
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Michigan spent 253 times as much as Rhode Island: Rhode Island had the lowest reported state expenditure at $1.4 million.
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Michigan was 57.7% above the top 10 average: Average spending across the 10 leading states was $231.5 million.
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Michigan sits in the middle of the fatality ranking: Its workplace fatality rate was 3.3 per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers, matching the national average and placing it 26th when states are ordered from highest to lowest.
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The national top 10s do not overlap: None of the 10 states with the highest workplace fatality rates appears among the 10 biggest robotics spenders. The comparison shows a geographic mismatch but does not establish that robot spending causes fatality rates to rise or fall.
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Risk and robot installations peak in different sectors nationally: Agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting had the highest industry fatality rate at 20.9, while logging workers had the highest selected occupational rate at 110.4. Automotive led IFR’s industrial robot categories with 13,747 installations.
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Top 10 states for industrial robotics spending: Michigan $365.0M; Ohio $336.4M; California $228.8M; Georgia $227.3M; Tennessee $225.1M; Alabama $223.5M; Texas $207.6M; Wisconsin $195.9M; Illinois $166.2M; Missouri $139.3M.
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Bottom 10 states for reported industrial robotics spending: Rhode Island $1.4M; Alaska $1.9M; Vermont $3.0M; New Mexico $3.5M; Montana $4.6M; North Dakota $7.2M; South Dakota $8.8M; Idaho $11.9M; Connecticut $12.6M; Maryland $12.8M. Hawaii and Wyoming were excluded because their expenditure figures were unavailable.
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Top 10 states for workplace fatality rates: Wyoming 13.9; Mississippi 8.0; Alaska 7.1; North Dakota 6.8; Arkansas 6.2; Montana 5.8; South Dakota 5.8; West Virginia 5.8; Iowa 5.2; Louisiana 5.1.
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Bottom 10 states for workplace fatality rates: Rhode Island 1.1; New Hampshire 1.7; New Jersey 1.9; Delaware 2.0; Massachusetts 2.1; Vermont 2.2; Connecticut 2.3; Nevada 2.3; California 2.4; New York 2.4.