New Jersey beats Raleigh-Durham as top US biomanufacturing hub

Commercial real estate and investment management firm JLL has ranked the top biomanufacturing hubs in the United States and New Jersey, Raleigh-Durham, and Boston are the number one, two, and three markets, respectively.

New Jersey beat Raleigh-Durham as the top U.S. biomanufacturing hub based on the “largest absolute concentration of biomanufacturing professionals” and a “high concentration” of contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) facilities, according to JLL’s 2025 Life Sciences Real Estate Perspective and Cluster Analysis.

New Jersey’s emergence as the top U.S. biomanufacturing hub positions it as a premier destination for scaled biologics production, according to Maddie Holmes, JLL’s senior research analyst for life sciences industry insight and advisory.

“This ranking underscores how established manufacturing infrastructure and specialized workforce development create sustainable competitive advantages that are critical for companies looking to scale production and meet growing demand for biologics and advanced therapeutics,” Holmes said.

Despite macroeconomic and funding headwinds, New Jersey remains a hot life sciences hub with the Garden State touted as the “medicine chest” to the world. The state is home to the headquarters or major facilities of 14 of the world’s largest biopharma companies, employing 115,000 people, and including more than 400 biotechnology companies, according to the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA).

However, at the same time, North Carolina — home to 840 life sciences companies employing 75,000 people — has emerged as a major biomanufacturing hub, thanks in part to long-term strategic investments that have funded training and education infrastructure to foster continued growth. In 2024 and 2025, the Tar Heel State saw more than $13.5 billion worth of announced life sciences investments, driven predominantly by manufacturing, according to the North Carolina Biotechnology Center (NCBiotech).

Win some, lose some

JLL evaluated U.S. life sciences clusters based on the following criteria: manufacturing base (life sciences and biomanufacturing employment concentration), production capacity (CDMO facility presence and Good Manufacturing Practice-certified square footage), talent pipeline (job posting activity indicating sector growth and hiring demand), and infrastructure readiness (physical and workforce capacity for scaled biologics production).

In JLL’s analysis, Boston was ranked third as a top biomanufacturing hub, followed by Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.-Baltimore ranked number four and five, respectively. However, some see Boston as the leader nationally in biomanufacturing — beating New Jersey for the crown.

In commercial real estate services and investment firm CBRE’s 2025 annual analysis of 100 U.S. life sciences markets, Boston-Cambridge beat out New York-New Jersey for the top spot in terms of manufacturing talent after Boston posted a greater gain in biological and chemical technicians.

“Gains in these professions give Boston an edge in more sophisticated biomanufacturing talent, whereas New York-New Jersey has an advantage in talent for high-volume pharmaceutical manufacturing,” CBRE said in its June 2025 announcement.

Bill Bullock, senior vice president for economic and statewide development at NCBiotech, told Pharma Manufacturing last month that he’s “not a disparager” of other states and cities, noting that each U.S. location has its advantages and disadvantages. 

“The dynamics of the ecosystem are different,” Bullock acknowledged. “The level of square footage of lab space and just pure R&D and risk capital in Cambridge blows us away. We won’t reach that.”

However, Bullock claims many of the recent large-scale biomanufacturing projects announced in North Carolina are too expensive to make in other East Coast states. “You’re seeing Genentech and Amgen build here” and not in Massachusetts for those big-ticket capital expenditures, according to Bullock.