Bostonruns on a handful of strong industries. If you’re job-hunting or weighing a move, here’s where the opportunities (and the big-name employers) are.
Top industries & employers
Biotech & pharmaceuticals
Moderna, Vertex, Biogen, Takeda, Novartis, Ginkgo Bioworks
Kendall Square in Cambridge is the densest biotech cluster in the world, built on the proximity of MIT, Harvard and the teaching hospitals. This is the reason a great many people move here.
Higher education & research
Harvard, MIT, Boston University, Northeastern, Tufts, Boston College
Around 35 colleges and universities in the metro area, employing tens of thousands and setting the rhythm of the city's housing market and social calendar.
Healthcare & academic medicine
Mass General Brigham, Beth Israel Lahey, Boston Children's, Dana-Farber
Mass General Brigham is the state's largest private employer, and the teaching hospitals are the research engine underneath the biotech cluster.
Asset management & financial services
Fidelity, State Street, Wellington, Putnam, Bain Capital
Boston invented the mutual fund and remains one of the largest asset management centres in the world, with a culture notably different from New York's.
Robotics & advanced technology
Boston Dynamics, iRobot, Amazon Robotics, MathWorks, Analog Devices
A distinctive regional strength growing out of MIT — robotics and hard technology rather than the consumer software that dominates the Bay Area.
Enterprise software & data
HubSpot, Toast, Wayfair, DataRobot, Klaviyo
A substantial and growing software sector, weighted towards enterprise and vertical SaaS rather than consumer platforms.
Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.