According to U.S. Dept. of Commerce data compiled by OCTANe, an Aliso Viejo CA-based organization, Southern California in recent years provided the highest level of job growth in the medical device sector.
Bill Carpou, OCTANe’s president and CEO, presented the statistics during his welcome address at the Medical Technology Innovation Forum. Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego employed 33,820 people, outpacing other medtech hotbeds such as New York, Northern California, Minneapolis, and Boston:
- Southern California : 33,820
- New York: 18,130
- Boston: 15,204
- Minneapolis: 14,043
- Northern California : 11,093
In addition to existing jobs, the region also saw positive job creation. The region created 3,839 jobs. By contrast, other regions actually lost jobs. New York dropped over 6,000 jobs, Northern California lost more than 5,000, Boston lost around 3,000, and Minneapolis lost about 1,000, as depicted in the table below:
![Medtech job creation for the two-year period ending 2016. [Data from U.S. Department of Commerce, courtesy of OCTANe]](https://amritt-wp-media.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/24191302/SoCal-Med-Tech-Statistics-2016.png)
OCTANe announced its commitment to long-term job creation in Orange County and has pledged to help create a total of 22,000 jobs by 2025. It also plans to fund 506 companies, participate in 39 liquidity events, and infuse $3.6 billion in capital into regional medtech companies.
Last updated: December 26th, 2025
