CBRE’s inaugural Life Sciences Talent Report, which identifies the Top 25 life sciences labor markets in the country, found that New York/New Jersey had the most annual graduates in biological and biomedical sciences in the U.S. — more than 2,000 new degrees more than runner-up Los Angeles/Orange County. As a result, the New York/New Jersey market ranks No. 4 in the country, which means the market is ideal for major employers seeking the most highly educated talent.
“The New York/New Jersey region boasts some of the best research talent in the nation, produced by renowned educational institutions,” Joesph DeRosa of CBRE in New York said. “We have more chemists in New York/New Jersey than any other market in the country, as well as one of the highest number of Ph.D.s. Our region is well-poised to provide the talent for companies entering and expanding in the market.”
CBRE assessed each market against multiple criteria, including the number of life sciences jobs and graduates, life sciences’ share of each market’s overall job and graduate pool, its number of doctorate degree holders in life sciences, and its concentration of jobs in the broader professional, scientific and technical services professions. The analysis produced CBRE’s inaugural ranking of the leading markets for U.S. life sciences talent.
According to CBRE, New York/New Jersey issued 9.8% of all biological and biomedical sciences PhDs, the highest of any market in the country. Moreover, New York/New Jersey received $3.4 billion in National Institutes of Health funding, the largest commitment to any market in the U.S. in 2021.
Nationally, CBRE said job growth in life sciences professions — from bioengineers and biochemists to microbiologists and data scientists — expanded by 79% since 2001, to roughly 500,000. In comparison, the overall U.S. job growth rate in that span was 8%.
