Philadelphia Emerges as Top Growth Market for Life Sciences Talent, Reaching Record Employment Levels

Philadelphia reported record levels of life sciences employment in biotechnology research & development and pharmaceutical & medicine manufacturing last year, with the former increasing 0.8% to 17,407 and the latter increasing 3.1% to 16,346, according to a new report from CBRE.

In the report, titled 6 Life Sciences Talent Trends Driving Property Demand, CBRE spotlights the highest rate of year-over-year job growth in nearly three years – 1.7% as of April – for two key life sciences subsectors: biotechnology research & development and pharmaceutical & medicine manufacturing.

Additionally, life sciences venture capital investment in Philadelphia has rebounded following a decline in 2024, rising 7.1% in 2025. Overall, Philadelphia held steady at seventh in CBRE's annual ranking of U.S. life sciences markets.

"The Philadelphia region continues to be a major player in the life sciences market," said Matt Knowles, Senior Vice President with CBRE's Philadelphia Life Sciences Practice. "Employment across life science sectors has steadily grown in recent years, as employers recognize Philadelphia as a cost-effective market with a high-quality talent pool."

Nationally, U.S. life sciences venture capital investment – which declined in 2022 and 2023 – has rebounded in recent years, including a 33% increase in investment in H1 2026 versus H1 2025. Among the markets posting the largest gains in venture-capital funding for life sciences companies from 2024 to 2025 are San Francisco, Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Austin, Pittsburgh, Houston and Chicago.

"Gains in jobs and venture-capital funding bode well for demand for lab space down the line," said Ian Anderson, CBRE Director of Research and Analysis. "The industry has more hurdles to clear – namely significant vacancy and further implementation of artificial intelligence – but growth in jobs and funding provides the foundation for the recovery to build on."

The report marks the fifth consecutive year that CBRE has ranked U.S. life sciences markets by weighing a combination of factors, including each market's number and density of key life sciences jobs, its number of college graduates with life sciences degrees, its density and total of life sciences PhDs and its total of people working in the professional, scientific and technical services industries.