The Most Expensive Place to Make Medical Devices; Plus the Least

Silicon Valley is being honored with another nickname this week: the most expensive place to manufacture a medical device in the country, according to the Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal

A paper examines a study by The Boyd Company, Inc. (pdf) which examined 55 locations in North and Latin America to compare device manufacturing costs.The San Jose/Palo Alto area topped the list, with total operating costs at more than $30 million. It had the highest overall costs in labor, power, land, taxes and shipping for an average 325-employee production plant.

The study, released on May 9 also lists several other manufacturing sites. Here, I'll provide just the five most expensive, followed by the five least expensive.

MOST EXPENSIVE: 

San Jose/Palo Alto, CA $30,712,816
Los Angeles/Long Beach, CA $30,109,132
Orange County, CA $29,606,228
Fairfield, CT $29,254,600
Boston/Natick, MA $28,586,355
 

LEAST EXPENSIVE:

Louisville, KY $22,677,972
Lexington, KY $22,658,918
Sioux Falls, SD $22,556,937
San Jose, CR $17,823,707
Maquiladora, MEX $16,864,433

Where are your manufacturing plants? 

—Heather Thompson