The U.S. bioscience industry generated $3.2 trillion in overall output in 2023, according to the latest report from the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) and the Council of State Bioscience Associations (CSBA) in partnership with TEConomy.
Released Dec. 2, the 11th edition of the biennial report, “The U.S. Bioscience Economy: Driving Economic Growth and Opportunities in States & Regions,” gives extensive data on the U.S. bioscience industry, the country’s bioscience ecosystem, and the sector’s growth at state and local levels.
The report’s national and state-level data portray a diverse and growing industry, employing nearly 2.3 million Americans across almost 150,000 U.S. business establishments in every U.S. state. The sector indirectly supports nearly 8 million additional jobs, it shows.
“The industry has maintained its long-term growth trend with employment increasing by nearly 15 percent since 2019, well outpacing the nation’s overall private sector job growth during this period that includes the global pandemic and subsequent economic recovery,” according to the report.
While some slowdown in growth was observed in 2023, the biotech industry has always been marked by strong resilience, the report says.
The employment brought in by the biotech sector pays 83% more than the nation’s private sector average and has the advantage of enabling innovation that saves lives.
“America’s bioscience sector is vital to addressing the world’s most pressing challenges—from pandemics and national security to preventative health and environmental sustainability,” says BIO President & CEO John F. Crowley. “Industry leaders and researchers overcome tremendous obstacles every day to advance innovative solutions and help people lead healthier lives, and this report shows how the sector continues to enrich communities, create jobs, and grow economies across our great country.”
The state and regional breakdown
As it has for the past 20 years, the BIO/TEConomy report features a detailed focus on state and local-level biotech economic activity, including an extensive comparative analysis and separate fact sheets for each state, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
“The U.S. bioscience industry has a vast, well-distributed geographic footprint that extends to every state and region,” the report notes. “National industry job growth has been driven by almost every state—over the 2019 to 2023 period, 49 states, DC, and Puerto Rico experienced net job growth in the bioscience industry.”
The report also breaks down the impact on specific metropolitan regions.
“A majority of the nation’s metropolitan areas can claim a niche specialization in the biosciences,” the report says. “More than half (53%) or 203 regions, have a specialized employment concentration in at least one bioscience industry subsector or market.”