Denver-Boulder area bolsters status as growing life sciences hub
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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.
