San Diego County remains the nation’s No. 3 life science hotspot, with the industry’s rapid ascent largely unaffected by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a pair of recent reports.

Commercial real estate company Jones Lang LaSalle ranked the top 10 life science markets in the U.S. based on factors including each region’s number of residents with advanced science degrees; the concentration of life science employees and companies; the amount of investment money flowing into local companies and universities; and total lab space.

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The Greater Boston and San Francisco Bay Area held onto the top two spots in JLL’s Sept. 15 ranking. That’s no surprise, as Boston and the Bay Area have long been considered the nation’s top biotech hubs, with San Diego right behind.

“Each of these three clusters has continued to grow and be successful in similar ways: Company formation, venture capital, National Institutes of Health funding, employment,” said Joe Panetta, CEO of life science trade group Biocom California.

And while some regions, such as the Raleigh-Durham area, also have top-notch research universities, Panetta says they don’t quite have the same culture of entrepreneurs rapidly starting and growing companies before jumping into their next venture.

Biocom issued its own report Monday measuring the life science industry’s impact on California’s economy. The report found that the industry employed nearly 500,000 Californians in 2020 and grew about 0.5 percent while the state’s overall workforce shrank 7 percent due to the pandemic’s chilling effect on the economy.

That divide between the life sciences and other sectors was even more pronounced in San Diego. The county’s life science workforce rose from around 68,00 employees in 2019 to roughly 72,400 at the end of last year, a 6 percent uptick. Meanwhile, the overall workforce dropped 10 percent, according to the state’s employment development department.

Roughly one out of every 30 employed San Diegans works in the life sciences. These jobs pay well at a time when many residents are struggling to afford housing. The average life science employee made $127,000 in 2020; median household income in the county is around $84,000, according to the American Community Survey.

Biocom’s report, prepared by Point Loma Nazarene University economist Lynn Reaser, estimates the local industry generated close to $48 billion in total economic activity last year compared to $41 billion in 2019. That figure accounts for both direct and indirect impacts of life science companies on San Diego’s economy. Along similar lines, the life science sector helped support 178,000 local jobs in total.

“This year’s report revealed two key dimensions of San Diego’s life sciences cluster,” wrote Reaser in an email. “First, it is a major source of stability that can grow even in recessions. Second, it is at the forefront of what promises to be a swell in demand of interest and investment in life sciences during the next decade.”

While the Bay Area and San Diego are widely considered the state’s top two biotech hubs, the report found that the industry is also growing quickly in Los Angeles County, where there are 97,000 life science employees. Los Angeles companies, universities and research institutes brought in nearly $2 billion in National Institutes of Health funding, the highest total of any county in the state, followed by San Diego County at $1.2 billion.

“Life science” is a catch-all term that includes small biotechs, big pharma companies and medical device makers. The term also applies to contract manufacturing and research firms, as well as companies that make the test tubes, glass beakers and other equipment essential to any lab.

Biocom’s latest economic impact report uses a slightly different definition of what counts as a life science company than previous reports, which could modestly affect some of the figures.

Panetta thinks San Diego is locked into the No. 3 spot for the foreseeable future. But there are ways that could change, he says, such as the formation of a thriving biotech community downtown.

“One of the constraints to growth in San Diego has always been real estate density,” he said. “They’ve got licensed facilities in South San Francisco in buildings that are 10, 12, 15 stories. We don’t have that here. But if we see increased density, we could see increased growth.”

Reaser, too, sees industry expansion into new parts of the county as a major growth opportunity — but one that raises fresh questions of where this growing workforce will live and how they’ll commute to an ever-growing network of labs and offices.

“As life sciences extends its geographic reach from North County to Downtown and beyond, connecting offices, labs, and manufacturing facilities with housing will be a growing challenge,” she said. “It will be vital that biotech has a seat at the table in discussing both transportation and housing solutions.”

Real estate firm IQHQ is taking over five city blocks along the bay for what it’s calling the San Diego Research and Development District

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