CBRE Report Identifies Top US Markets Across Three Subsectors Life Sciences Industry Chicago

CBRE’s annual U.S. Life Sciences Talent Trends report newly analyzes life sciences employment by subsector, mapping out the top markets and employment trends across the research & development, manufacturing and medical technology fields.

Seven markets ranked within the top 10 of all three subsectors: Boston/Cambridge, the San Francisco Bay Area, New York/New Jersey, LA/Orange County, San Diego, Philadelphia and Chicago. Of those, Boston/Cambridge notched the highest average ranking across the three subsectors.

Highlights for the Chicago region include:

• Chicago produced the 6th most biological and biomedical sciences graduates in 2022, growing 11.2% over the five prior years
  
  
• Chicago is the 3rd ranked market for Life Sciences Manufacturing Talent
  
  
• Chicago is the 7th ranked market for Medtech Talent
  
  
• Chicago is the 10th ranked market for Life Sciences R&D Talent
  
  
• Chicago issued the third-greatest number of certificates (up to 2-year programs) for biomedical, biotechnology, and biology technicians in 2022, the latest year for which data is available.

“Following the infusion of much needed world-class lab inventory in the market over the past few years, including new facilities in Fulton Market, and also adjacent to both the University of Chicago and Northwestern University, Chicago has serious momentum,” said Dan Lyne, an Executive Vice President in CBRE’s Chicago office. “The biotech startup community now has options to grow and further their science, keeping them on home turf. This is also propped up by private capital and high-flying national incubator options such as Portal Innovations. It’s all making the market very sticky for its existing talent base, as well as importing new jobs peering into Chicago for the first time.”

Overall, U.S. life sciences job growth has been sluggish since interest rates began rising in 2022. The industry’s job growth – specifically in biotechnology R&D and pharmaceutical/medicine manufacturing – amounted to 0.2% since June 2022 after gaining 15.8% in the same period prior to June 2022.

Even so, demand for life sciences talent is strong. Unemployment in the sector is below 2%, compared to roughly 4% for all professions. That’s despite an increase in U.S. biological and biomedical science graduates over the past decade, up 54% from the 2010-2011 academic year to 173,825 in 2021-2022.

To read the full report, click here.