IU study: Lilly supports 47,520 Indiana jobs and 3.6% of state GDP

Eli Lilly's footprint in its home state has grown large enough that a single company now accounts for roughly one out of every 28 dollars of Indiana's economic output. That is the conclusion of a May 2026 report from the Indiana Business Research Center (IBRC) at Indiana University's Kelley School of Business, which Lilly commissioned to measure its economic and civic contributions in the state ^[1].

The report puts Lilly's direct Indiana employment at 14,700, counting both full-time and part-time positions ^[1]. Using IMPLAN input-output modeling, the researchers estimate that Lilly's supply-chain purchases and its workers' household spending support another 31,900 "ripple-effect" jobs, for a total of 46,600 jobs tied to the company's operating budget ^[1]. Add roughly 920 jobs linked to routine capital spending on existing facilities, and the total reaches 47,520 jobs, with an overall employment multiplier of 3.14 ^[1].

The numbers behind the headline

Those 46,600 operating-budget jobs generate more than $6.6 billion in total employee compensation, or an average of $142,130 per job — more than 70% above the average for all jobs in Indiana, according to the report ^[1]. Lilly's direct operations contributed nearly $15.6 billion to Indiana's GDP, about 2.7% of the state's output; counting ripple effects and capital spending, the figure rises to nearly $20.7 billion, or 3.6% of state GDP ^[1].

The report also notes that Lilly accounts for roughly 72% of Indiana's pharmaceutical manufacturing employment and about 70% of the state's GDP in that industry ^[1]. Pharmaceutical manufacturing made up 3.9% of Indiana's total GDP in 2024, more than twice the share in any other state ^[1]. Indiana ranked second nationally in pharmaceutical manufacturing employment with 19,735 workers and third in industry GDP at about $20.1 billion ^[1].

Much of the growth is still under construction. Lilly is in the middle of an $18 billion buildout of three new facilities at the LEAP Research and Innovation District in Boone County, part of more than $50 billion in US capital investments the company has announced since 2020 ^[1]. The five-year construction phase is expected to finish by the end of 2027 and to support about 9,470 Indiana jobs per year on average, peaking at an estimated 18,630 jobs during 2026 ^[1]. Once running, the LEAP campus is planned to employ 1,600 workers directly, or about 4,880 including ripple effects ^[1].

One caveat worth naming: the study was prepared for Lilly, and economic impact models like IMPLAN estimate ripple effects rather than count them directly ^[1]. The report also does not break out which specific medicines drive this activity, so it does not say how much of the figure is attributable to semaglutide competitors like Mounjaro and Zepbound (tirzepatide) or to the newer oral GLP-1 Foundayo (orforglipron).

Why it matters for patients

For people taking or considering GLP-1 medications, the practical link here is manufacturing capacity. Shortages of these drugs over the past few years were driven largely by fill-finish and production limits, and reports like this one show the scale of the physical plant being added — $18 billion in new Indiana facilities alone, on top of more than $50 billion in announced US capital spending since 2020 ^[1]. More capacity does not automatically mean lower prices or broader insurance coverage, and this report says nothing about either.

The figures also explain why drug pricing and manufacturing policy fights land differently in Indiana than elsewhere. Lilly was the state's 10th-largest employer in 2025 and its largest for-profit employer headquartered in the state ^[1]. When one company supports 3.6% of a state's GDP and pays supported workers an average of $142,130 a year, state and local officials have a direct financial stake in that company's pipeline ^[1].

What happens next

Lilly's LEAP construction phase is scheduled to be complete by the end of 2027 ^[1]. By 2030, when the new facilities are expected to be fully operational, the IBRC projects Lilly's total Indiana employment footprint at about 52,400 jobs and its total state GDP impact at nearly $22.5 billion in 2026 dollars ^[1].

Separately, Lilly has committed $57.5 million to Ivy Tech Community College and Purdue University for Lilly Scholars programs, aiming to support up to 1,000 scholars at Ivy Tech over five years and 75 to 100 per year at Purdue over 10 years, with full scholarships in pharmaceutical manufacturing-related fields ^[1].