HOUSTON – (Realty News Report) — Houston made strides as a top market for life sciences talent even as the sector faces challenges such as cuts in federal research spending and reduced venture capital spending, according to a new CBRE report.
In its 2025 Life Sciences Talent Trends report, Dallas-based CBRE generated rankings of the nation’s top 25 markets for three subsectors: research and development, manufacturing, and medtech. The 100 largest markets in the U.S. were analyzed, based on factors such as the number and density of jobs, number of graduates in biological and biomedical sciences, and labor costs.
Boston-Cambridge again ranked No. 1 in the R&D sector ahead of San Francisco Bay Area, Washington, DC-Baltimore, New York-New Jersey, and Los Angeles. Houston, the segment’s biggest riser of the year, moved up three positions to No. 10.
For the manufacturing subsector, Boston-Cambridge surpassed No. 2 New York-New Jersey this year as the top market for talent. Houston ranked No. 3, followed by San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles-Orange County. Top gainers in the manufacturing ranking were Washington, D.C. (No. 6), Denver-Boulder (No. 9) and Seattle (No. 11).
The top 5 markets for medtech talent were Minneapolis-St. Paul, Los Angeles-Orange County, Boston-Cambridge, San Francisco-Bay Area, and New York-New Jersey. Houston ranked No. 17, while Dallas-Fort Worth came in at No. 12.
Life sciences employment peaked at 2.1 million nationally in March before declining by 0.4% or nearly 9,000 jobs in April, according to CBRE. The unemployment rate for life science professions nearly doubled the past year to 3.1%.
Growth in U.S. biological and biomedical sciences degrees slowed in the 2022-23 school year to 0.5%, down from 5% the prior school year.
“The underlying science of the life sciences sector – drug development – is strong,” said Matt Gardner, CBRE Americas Life Sciences Leader. “We’re dealing with a tough environment for funding, and the outlook for the sector’s job growth currently is fragile. But the foundation is in place for further growth once the sector’s challenges are surpassed.”
Thanks to years of robust building, there is plenty of real estate to accommodate the life sciences workforce, according to CBRE. The U.S. vacancy rate reached 21.4% in the first quarter, up from a recent low of 5% in Q2 2022. Construction slowed to 8 million SF in Q1, down from more than 35 million SF two years ago.
Recent projects in Houston include the Texas Medical Center’s TMC3 Helix Park collaborative research campus, the 53-acre Levit Green life sciences district near the medical center, and San Jacinto College’s Center for Biotechnology at Generation Park. Eli Lilly & Co. is considering a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in northeast Houston.
1500 OST LLC, an entity led by Allen Crosswell, is developing a 21-acre mixed-use district at 1500 Old Spanish Trail near TMC3 that could include life sciences space.
Construction of life sciences and medical buildings face significant increases in building materials and equipment due to new tariffs, says Mitch Green, senior vice president of re-construction for AECOM Tishman.
Speaking at the recent Houston Hospital, Outpatient Facilities & Medical Office Buildings Summit, Green said tariffs will go beyond anticipated increases of over 25 percent on certain steel and aluminum products. Costly delays and supply chain snafus will raise the price on building new facilities.
Some 92 percent of pharmaceutical manufacturers expect that switching suppliers will cause regulatory delays and supply disruptions, Green said.
June 24, 2025 Realty News Report Copyright 2025
TMC3 Photo by Ralph Bivins, Realty News Report, Copyright 2025
THE RALPH BIVINS PROJECT PODCAST
LISTEN: THE RALPH BIVINS PROJECT with Sam Scott of CommGate
LISTEN: THE RALPH BIVINS PROJECT with Lacee Jacobs of Rebel Retail Advisors
LISTEN: THE RALPH BIVINS PROJECT with Danny Rice of Colliers
LISTEN: THE RALPH BIVINS PROJECT with Trey Odom of Avera
LISTEN: THE RALPH BIVINS PROJECT with Kris Larson of Downtown Houston +
LISTEN: THE RALPH BIVINS PROJECT with Jim Carman of Howard Hughes Holdings
LISTEN: THE RALPH BIVINS PROJECT with Jeff Havsy of Moody’s Analytics
LISTEN: THE RALPH BIVINS PROJECT with Sam Scott of CommGate
File: Houston Rises in Life Sciences Rankings CBRE Houston Rises in Life Sciences Rankings TMC3