Testing Laboratories
Industry Profile Report
Dive Deep into the industry with a 25+ page industry report (pdf format) including the following chapters
Industry Overview Current Conditions, Industry Structure, How Firms Operate, Industry Trends, Credit Underwriting & Risks, and Industry Forecast.
Call Preparation Call Prep Questions, Industry Terms, and Weblinks.
Financial Insights Working Capital, Capital Financing, Business Valuation, and Financial Benchmarks.
Industry Profile Excerpts
Industry Overview
The 5,200 testing labs in the US perform physical, chemical and other analytical testing services to evaluate products, substances, or systems and provide certification for manufacturers and other industries. Labs may also provide independent data to support a product’s claims.
Dependence On Highly Skilled Workers
Testing labs require the skills of highly educated scientists, engineers, and technicians.
High Capital Requirements
The fixed costs associated with establishing a testing lab can be high.
Industry size & Structure
A typical testing lab operates out of a single location, employs 35 workers, and generates $5.3 million in annual revenue.
- The testing lab industry consists of about 5,200 companies that employ 180,000 workers and generate $27.5 billion annually.
- The testing lab industry is concentrated with the top 50 firms accounting for 46% of industry revenue.
- Customer industries include defense, aerospace, telecommunications, automotive, consumer products, agricultural products, and industrial products.
- Large domestic companies include KBR, Pace Analytical Services, and UL Solutions. Some large international labs, such as Bureau Veritas and Eurofins Scientific have US operations.
Industry Forecast
Testing Laboratories Industry Growth
Recent Developments
Mar 10, 2025 - Asset Tracking in Labs Needs Technology Upgrades
- About 60% of laboratory professionals in the US say that unplanned downtime from an inability to properly track lab assets is their biggest challenge, per a survey of 400 testing labs of all sizes from Internet of Things (IoT) services company MachineQ. Technological advancements have put pressure on laboratories to deliver faster results while maintaining higher standards of accuracy and precision. Asset tracking in labs is an operational method to ensure all equipment and lab space needed to complete an experiment is scheduled and locked down throughout a testing regime. Bad asset tracking can kill both efficiencies and compromise testing. Of the labs surveyed by MachineQ, 56% manually tracked assets, 14% had no system at all, and a mere 30% used real time monitoring. The survey also showed that only 29% of respondents used AI to compensate, but 87% plan to implement it within the next year.
- Researchers at the University of Cambridge have developed a new method of identifying emerging variants of viruses and bacteria that spread in humans, according to Lab Manager. Samples from humans infected with diseases such as flu, COVID-19, tuberculosis, and whooping cough are analyzed using genetic sequencing data to reveal genetic changes that underlie the emergence of new variants. The new system uses “family tree” data to identify new variants quickly based on how much a pathogen has changed genetically and its potential to spread in human populations. The existing method for determining new pathogen variants relies on groups of experts to decide when a bacteria or virus has changed enough to be designated a new variant.
- Johns Hopkins University researchers have developed a fast and accurate nanostructure-based tool for the early detection of heart attacks. The invention has a tiny microchip with a novel nanostructured surface that can detect heart attack biomarkers in blood within minutes. Heart attacks are often difficult to detect quickly because they involve tools such as electrocardiograms and lab work. The device developed by the Johns Hopkins team was developed for clinical settings but could be adapted for use in the field by first responders or eventually in the home.
- Sales growth in the testing laboratory industry is estimated to have softened further in 2024 after a slowdown in 2023. The industry’s year-over-year sales growth fell to 7.7% in 2023 after posting an increase of 14.3% in 2022, according to Inforum and the Interindustry Economic Research Fund, Inc. Testing lab industry sales growth is projected to have risen 3.7% in 2024 and is projected to be flat in 2025, then see steadier average annual growth of about 4.3% through 2028, according to Inforum and the Interindustry Economic Research Fund, Inc.
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