Greater Boston
Greater Boston economic development is flourishing, effectively making this area an economic leader across New England and the world. Undeniably regarded as the world’s greatest life sciences cluster and a leading financial center, the Greater Boston region continues to be a hub of global innovation and growth. One of the greatest assets in the Greater Boston region is its highly educated workforce. Accordingly, the workforce in this area attracts the best and brightest talent, including 350,000 (annual) college students who come from around the world to the cosmopolitan cities of Boston and Cambridge.
The Greater Boston Region is a great place to start or grow a business.
office space lease rate psf (US rate $34.68)
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Colliers and CBRE
Colleges and Universities
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Labor Productivity (Massachusetts v. US)
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https://www.bls.gov/lpc/state-productivity.htm#Q03
Cost of Living Index (Region v. US)
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AdvisorSmith COL Index 2020
2023 Corporate Welcome Reception Honoree Videos
Leading Industries by Location Quotient
with at least 1,000+ employees
(Site selectors and corporate real estate experts are familiar with location quotients and often use them to determine the viability of a region for a prospect employer. Location quotients provided here measure the concentration of employees in an industry in this region versus the United States as a whole. A location quotient of 2.0, for example, means that the industry has twice the employment than the national average, suggesting competitive advantage for the region in that industry.)
NAICS 5239 Other financial investment activities | 996 | 10.19 |
NAICS 6113 Colleges and universities | 68 | 6.81 |
NAICS 5417 Scientific research and development services | 994 | 5.42 |
NAICS 5231 Securities and commodity contracts brokerage | 291 | 3.88 |
NAICS 5112 Software publishers | 433 | 3.45 |
NAICS 7121 Museums, historical sites, zoos, and parks | 59 | 2.98 |
NAICS 5411 Legal services | 1239 | 2.78 |
NAICS 5241 Insurance carriers | 147 | 2.65 |
NAICS 5111 Newspaper, book, and directory publishers | 84 | 2.56 |
NAICS 5416 Management and technical consulting services | 1182 | 2.45 |
NAICS 5415 Computer systems design and related services | 1402 | 2.16 |
Employers and Employees in Greater Boston
Leading Export Employers by Job Listings
Last 6 months (Apr. 1, 2021 - Sep. 30, 2021). Source: Labar Insight, Burning Class Technologies, 2021
Export Industry Employees
within 25 mile radius of region's center point. Source: GIS Planner, 2021
Economic Development Projects in Greater Boston
Recent Posts
Based in Palo Alto, Navan, a travel and expense company that uses AI to simplify business travel by allowing employees to book flights, hotels and cars while automatically managing expenses, is opening a new hub in Boston.
After raising $41.5 million in Series A financing, biotech company AI Proteins leased 40K SF in Boston at One Kenmore Square for its headquarters.
Life sciences nonprofit Nucleate Boston moved into a converted lab building near South Station in Boston. The company has 6 full-time employees and ~900 active volunteers around the world and the startups in its Boston chapter.
Stoke Therapeutics signed a lease for 98,500 SF in Waltham. The biotech company is expanding its HQ as it moves from 38K SF of office and lab space in Bedford. The move will occur in late 2026.
The Gloucester Marine Genomics Institute is coming to the City of Boston. The institute's Gloucester Biotechnology Academy that educates high school graduates in life science techniques will be in the Seaport District in Spring 2027.
Swiss biopharmaceutical giant Roche signed a 100K SF lease at Harvard’s new Enterprise Research Campus in Allston.
Govtech startup ClearGov merged with software company Gravity to create a public-sector finance platform and plans to relocate from Maynard to Boston.
Industrious, a co-working company, is expanding its existing Copley Square space and opening a new location in Fenway in Boston. The 22K SF space is planned to open in late summer.
Cancer-focused biotech Kestrel Therapeutics moved from Allston to a ~9,800 SF HQ on the Arsenal on the Charles campus in Watertown, MA.
Marking one of the largest signed lease deals for commercial office and lab space in the Boston area in the past year, TransMedics, a tech company that helps coordinate organ transplants, will occupy 480K SF in Somerville's Assembly Square by January 2028.
Vardera Labs, an emerging firm in AI-powered valuation and appraisal technology, signed a lease for 2,772 SF in Boston's Seaport District.
Headquartered in Boston, defense tech startup Pryzm launched with $12.2 million to build AI software for government procurement.
After several years of remote work and suburban status, G Adventures re-located its U.S. HQ to downtown Boston in ~3K SF and more than 20 employees.
Schneider Electric, a greentech company with its North American headquarters already in Boston, committed to another 75K SF in the City.
Radiopharmaceutical products company Curium moved its global headquarters from Paris to Boston.
Labshares, Greater Boston’s shared laboratory provider for biotechnology companies, announced that it has signed a lease for a new 57,882 SF facility in Watertown, more than doubling its total footprint to more than 100K SF.
Five years after its founding, Teradar, has emerged from stealth with the announcement of a $150 million Series B round, raised earlier in the year. The startup uses the terahertz frequency of the electromagnetic spectrum to create enhanced sensors to detect people or objects in the road.
Expedition Medicines, a 40 person Cambridge biotech spinout of Flagship Pioneering that launched in October 2025, plans to use its platform to generate small-molecule medicines, particularly for treatments in areas like oncology and immunology.
To accommodate expected growth, software firm RapDev expanded within Boston to an 18K SF space.
With a 235,500 SF lease across 1 and 5 Alewife Park in Cambridge, Lila Sciences (a Flagship Pioneering-backed AI startup) signed the largest Greater Boston lab lease in the third quarter of 2025.
UK medical products company Convatec is expanding its R&D facility in Lexington.
Mindgard, a UK-based cybersecurity startup, has established its U.S. headquarters in Boston.
Massachusetts biotech company Sionna Therapeutics in Waltham grew its headcount by 71% since going public and is heading toward clinical milestones with its treatments for cystic fibrosis.
Cogent Biosciences signed a 32K SF lease for headquarters in Waltham’s CityPoint office cluster.
Hasbro is relocating its headquarters from Rhode Island to 265K SF in Boston for its toys, board games, licensing businesses, and most corporate services.
InvoiceCloud, one of the largest fintech companies in Massachusetts, expanded from Braintree to Boston in July and plans to add 50 employees over the next year.
Enveric Biosciences moved its corporate headquarters from Florida to Cambridge. WThe biotech company is working on treatments for psychiatric and neurological disorders
ChemPartner, a Chinese contract research organization and contract development and manufacturing organization opened a new ~12K SF R&D site in Watertown.
German "unicorn" adtech firm Adjoe opened its first U.S. headquarters in Boston, with plans to double its 18 person headcount by the end of the year.
Aldevron, which works on advancements in manufacturing DNA, RNA and proteins for advanced therapies, selected Waltham for its new innovation center that will allow it to recruit top talent from the Boston biotech community, more closely work with clients and speed up project timelines.
Atlanta company Flock Safety, a security technology company that manufactures security devices, including drones, license plate readers and video cameras and develops the software to ensure the devices operate smoothly for its customers, opened its second location in Boston.
Cambridge will be home and HQ to Matlantis which develops an AI-powered materials simulator for companies to see the use of different materials to test them more efficiently and cost-effectively.
Foghorn Therapeutics is leasing ~ 72,850 SF in Watertown for its its HQ, main executive offices, R&D, manufacturing, and more.
Veolia, the second largest clean energy company in Massachusetts, is expanding its HQ within Boston and acquired two local companies as it expands its hazardous waste management arm.
Mispro, a provider of contract vivarium (CV) space and services, announced the slated October 2025 opening of its eighth facility in the Boston area, located within the Southline Boston life sciences campus in Dorchester.
With a $50 million investment, Mariana Oncology, a fully integrated radiopharmaceutical company developing precision radioligand therapies to transform cancer treatment, is expanding by 30K SF in Watertown.
QurAlis Corp., a drug developer working on a treatment for ALS and other neurological diseases, is doubling its footprint in the life sciences cluster around Alewife in Cambridge with a new 30K SF headquarters, research facility, and office space.
Welcome! Dutch quantum computing company Qblox has established its North American HQ with a 3K SF space in Boston.
Fabriq, a Paris-based company that makes software for manufacturing operations, is planning to open its North American HQ in Boston.
Bioliberty, a healthtech startup in Scotland, will be establishing its U.S. HQ in Boston and is launching a new medical device that uses air pressure to help patients regain hand mobility.
Opened on May 8 in Cambridge, the innovation center is the first U.S.-based R&D site for Mitsubishi.
Marketing services company Klaviyo is expanding in Boston.
The lease is one of the most significant life sciences real estate transactions in Greater Boston in recent years.
Phase1 of the ADA Forsyth Institute’s (AFI) new, cutting-edge research and clinic facility at 100 Chestnut Street in Somerville, Massachusetts is now complete, marking a significant step in delivering a premier space that will advance oral health research and innovation.
American energy supply company Global Partners is increasing its footprint by 72K SF in an HQ move from Waltham to Newton.
Charles River's accelerator and development labs are a place for clients to do rodent in vivo preclinical studies.
10-year-old AI drug discovery company, Insilico Medicine, is moving its headquarters from New York to Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Developer of a fossil-fuel-free, scalable, drop-in replacement for traditional cement in concrete, Sublime Systems, will add more than 23K SF of space for their pilot facility and R&D lab, in addition to the 6,500 SF they currently occupy in Somerville.
Logan International Airport is celebrating its 100-year anniversary with a newly-expanded Terminal E that includes a new security checkpoint, new concessions, departure lounges and energy-efficient operations.
Indianapolis-based pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly & Co. has unveiled plans for a $700 million institute for genetic medicine in Boston’s Seaport District. The opening is slated for 2024. The company has signed a 334,000-square-foot lease at 15 Necco St., a 12-story healthcare and life sciences building.
The LEGO Group announced it has selected Boston for its future head office in the Americas and will move its current office from Enfield, Connecticut by the end of 2026. The move to the new office will happen in a phased way beginning in mid-2025 and completed by the end of 2026. Until then LEGO employees will work across two sites – the existing office in Enfield and the company’s LEGO Education office in Back Bay, Boston, where new roles will be located.
Shanghai-based Zai Lab Limited is expanding its Cambridge headquarters as it looks to become an international pharma giant.
Biopharmaceutical company Ventus Therapeutics, which is utilizing structural biology and a proprietary computational chemistry platform to identify and develop small molecule therapeutics across a broad range of diseases, opened a 13K SF office and lab facility in Waltham as the first phase of its planned global expansion.
Norwegian next-gen battery company Freyr opened a technology center in Boston. The company manufactures clean batteries and plans to manufacture 50 gigawatt hours of battery cell production capacity by 2025.
Pharmaceutical company Servier Pharmaceuticals unveiled its cancer-focused R&D campus in Boston's Seaport neighborhood.
Pharmaceutical company Bayer AG opened its new 62,100 SF Research and Innovation Center in Cambridge's Kendall Square, representing a $140 million investment.
Drugmaker Takeda is leasing 600K SF at a building under development in Cambridge's Kendall Square.
Swiss technology company Nexthink plans to double its U.S. presence (currently at 80 employees) with a new Boston headquarters.
Accent Therapeutics, which works to provide therapies to cancer patients, leased 65,003 SF in Lexington.
BioMed Realty announced a major acquisition of property at Assembly Square in Somerville, at which it will build a multi-phased, 1.3 million square foot campus. The site, well-connnected by infrastructure to nearby Boston and Cambridge, is envisioned as a bet-in-class, purpose build innovation space for research, technology, and life science tenants.
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