Illinois is the Midwest’s life sciences leader. It has the most jobs and the fastest growth. In 2025, Illinois life sciences employed 673,948 workers (#1 in the Midwest, #6 in the U.S.), up 14.5% since 2020, and generated $111.3B in GRP (#1 in the Midwest, #7 in the U.S.).
Illinois is home to more than 16,200 life sciences firms. They range from global leaders like Abbott, AbbVie, Baxter, CSL Behring, and GE HealthCare to a growing startup community. Recent expansions by AbbVie, CSL Behring, and Takeda show that companies keep choosing to grow here.
In 2025, Illinois researchers received 245 NSF awards, totaling more than $187M. Chicago was also selected for a $250 million Chan Zuckerberg Biohub investment. The Biohub is a collaboration among the University of Chicago, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and Northwestern University to advance biomedical research.
Investors have followed. From 2019 to 2023, Illinois life sciences companies received more than $11 billion in bioscience venture capital (#1 in the Midwest, #4 in the U.S.). Illinois is a top-five state for venture investment in Healthcare Technology Systems, All Other Digital Health, and Monitoring Equipment. The state also ranks #4 in the nation for producing life sciences talent.
With the Midwest’s largest and fastest-growing life sciences workforce, Illinois is where life sciences companies discover, develop, and scale.
To learn more, get in touch with our team today.
