Denver-Boulder area bolsters status as growing life sciences hub
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
The life sciences talent pool between Denver and Boulder ranks among the top 25 in the U.S., according to a report published earlier this month by the CBRE, an investment management firm.
Driving the news: The Denver-Boulder area ranked No. 11 on CBRE's listing of life sciences clusters. The evaluation was based on available jobs, local wages, cost of living and other factors.
- Cities were ranked by how their scores compared to national averages for these variables, with Denver/Boulder earning 106.9.
- Boston came out on top with a score of 138, followed by San Francisco (129.8) and Washington, D.C. (126.2).
Why it matters: The metro's acclaimed health centers and universities, including University of Colorado Anschutz's Medical Campus, are deepening Denver's talent pool of researchers, industry experts say.
- The area's growing status as a life sciences hub is also spurring major lab development projects — including a proposed 112,000-square-foot building in Boulder and a 450,000-square-foot lab in Broomfield — at a time when lab vacancy is at record lows.
By the numbers: The Denver area is home to nearly 8,000 researchers in the life sciences field, according to CBRE, citing the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
- The region saw a 20% jump in the number of life science workers between 2015 and 2020, with bioengineers and biomedical engineers soaring 116% in that time frame.
The big picture: Across the country, job growth in life sciences professions has spiked 79% since 2001 to roughly 500,000, per CBRE's report.