CBRE ranks Philadelphia among nation's top markets for life sciences talent

The Philadelphia region's life sciences industry cracked the top 10 for talent in a new report from commercial real estate services firm CBRE.

According to the report, which examined life sciences workforces across the country, Philadelphia ranks No. 8 — one spot ahead of Seattle and one spot behind Los Angeles-Orange County.

The Boston-Cambridge region took the top spot, followed by, in order, the Washington-Baltimore region, the San Francisco Bay Area, and New York-New Jersey market.

In its study titled "Life Science Research Talent 2022," CBRE notes more professionals are engaged in life sciences research in the United States than ever before — with the group growing 79% between 2001-2021, compared to an 8% growth for all U.S. occupations. Additionally, the report found the number of U.S. graduates in biological and biomedical sciences totaled more than 163,000 in 2020, a record number and double the number just 15 years ago.

Finding life sciences research talent in the years ahead may prove extremely difficult, CBRE said, because life, physical and social science occupations had the second-lowest unemployment rate of all U.S. occupations in April 2022 at 0.6%.

CBRE included the Philadelphia region as one of the markets that benefits from being home to "sizable, world-leading universities and industry presence which offer an abundant talent pool for life sciences companies."

Thanks to a proliferation of initial public stock offerings in 2020 and 2021, which saw a dozen life sciences companies complete IPOs, the Philadelphia area is now home to more than 50 publicly traded biotech, pharmaceutical and medical device companies that are either based here or have a large local presence. One of the region's most successful home-grown companies in the sector is gene therapy developer Spark Therapeutics, which was acquired by Roche for $4.3 billion in 2019. Spark is still based in Philadelphia, where it has grown to more than 800 employees and continues to expand as an independent operating unit of Roche.

"Philadelphia continues to shine as a leader in the life sciences relative to markets of comparable size," said Christopher Molineaux, president of King of Prussia-based trade group Life Sciences Pennsylvania, commenting on the study. "This strength is driven in large part by the research community that calls the region home. Of note is the number of biochemists and biophysicists, a promising indicator and cause for optimism about continued innovation and growth in the sector."

According to the report, the Philadelphia region has 16,430 life sciences researchers, a number that grew 3% between 2015 and 2020.

CBRE compiled a separate ranking that looks at the ratio of each market's biochemist salaries to its cost of living. In the Philadelphia region, where the average annual cost of living is estimated at $52,273, the average biochemist salary is $102,496. That ratio of 1.79 ties Philadelphia with Minneapolis-St. Paul for the fifth-highest among the top 10 markets. Houston had the top ratio at 2.04.

The analysis also found that the life sciences ecosystems “more broadly thrive” in regions that house more people who hold doctorate degrees. In the Philadelphia area, 7.3% of the people with biological and biomedical degrees hold a doctorate. That percentage is seventh-highest among the top 10 life sciences clusters in the country, with Raleigh-Durham leading that way at 14.2%.