Study puts Lilly's Indiana impact at 47,520 jobs and 3.6% of state GDP
The study measures jobs, pay and state output tied to Lilly's Indiana operations, but it does not address medicine prices, supply or patient access.
Eli Lilly and Company's Indiana operations support 47,520 jobs and generate nearly $20.7 billion in economic activity, equal to 3.6% of the state's gross domestic product, according to a May 2026 study by the Indiana Business Research Center at Indiana University's Kelley School of Business [1]. The report was produced with Lilly's cooperation and measured the company's spending in the state, including supply-chain purchases and the household spending of its workers [1].
The research center counted 14,700 direct Lilly employees in Indiana [1]. Those jobs plus ripple effects — work at suppliers and spending by employees throughout the supply chain — add 31,900 more positions, for a total of 46,600 jobs tied to the company's operating budget [1]. The report describes an employment multiplier of 3.17: every 100 Lilly jobs support another 217 jobs at other Indiana employers [1].
Those 46,600 jobs pay more than $6.6 billion in total compensation, an average of $142,130 per job, which the report says is more than 70% above the average for all Indiana jobs [1]. Direct operations contributed nearly $15.6 billion to state GDP, about 2.7% of Indiana's total output [1]. Annual capital spending to maintain and improve existing Indiana facilities supports another 920 jobs [1].
One number in the report differs from a count it cites. The Indianapolis Business Journal ranked Lilly as Indiana's 10th-largest employer in 2025, with 13,206 full-time-equivalent workers, while the research center uses 14,700, a figure it says includes full-time and part-time positions [1]. The report also notes that Lilly employs 28% of its global workforce in Indiana and accounts for roughly 72% of the state's pharmaceutical manufacturing employment [1].
The Boone County expansion
Lilly is building three new facilities at the LEAP Research and Innovation District in Boone County under an $18 billion investment [1]. The report says the projects are expected to be built over a five-year construction phase to be completed by the end of 2027, supporting an estimated 9,470 jobs per year in Indiana and adding an average of nearly $1.5 billion a year to state GDP over that period [1]. At peak construction activity in 2026, the project is projected to support 18,630 jobs [1].
Once the campus is fully operating, Lilly plans to employ 1,600 workers there, and the report estimates a total employment impact of 4,880 jobs with supplier and household effects included [1]. By 2030, the study projects Lilly's total Indiana employment footprint will reach 52,400 jobs and its GDP impact will rise to nearly $22.5 billion in 2026 dollars [1].
The study also lists community commitments: $57.5 million to Ivy Tech Community College and Purdue University for the Lilly Scholars programs, with a goal of up to 1,000 scholars at Ivy Tech over five years and 75 to 100 a year at Purdue over 10 years [1]. In 2025, 7,270 Indiana employees took part in company service events, contributing 29,570 volunteer hours valued at nearly $943,000 [1].
Why it matters for patients
The report measures jobs, pay and state economic output. It does not examine medicine prices, insurance coverage, supply availability or patient access, and it does not break down the impact by individual product [1]. Whether an expanded Indiana manufacturing base would affect the supply or price of any specific medicine has not been reported.
What the study does establish is scale and timing. Lilly is the state's largest for-profit employer headquartered in Indiana, and most of the jobs attributed to it — 31,900 of 46,600 — come from suppliers and worker spending rather than its own payroll [1]. The construction schedule and the 2030 projections are the company's expectations as modeled by the researchers, not results that have occurred [1].
What happens next
Construction at the LEAP District is expected to reach peak activity in 2026 and finish by the end of 2027 [1]. Lilly expects the new campus to be fully operating by the end of the decade, when the study projects 1,600 Lilly employees there and a statewide employment footprint of 52,400 jobs [1].
Sources
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