Last Updated :
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July 3, 2019
Colorado Employment Statistics- 204,912 employers
- 2,673,688 employees
- $1,134 average weekly wage
- The average weekly wage is 3.0% above the national average
- The cost of living is 5.5% above the national average
Types of Employers (Private Sector vs Government Agency)
As an employer in Colorado, you are most likely to be running a private company rather than a government agency. 98.4% of employers run private companies in the state, BIGGER1.3% greater than the national average of 97.0. The remaining 1.6% of employers are government agencies: 0.6% work in a federal agency, 0.3% work for the state and 0.7% work for local government. The chart below illustrates the breakout of employers by type.
84.4% of employees work for a private company. This is 0.9% below the national average of 85.2%. Local government agencies employ 9.8% of the workers in the state, state government agencies employ 3.8% of the workers and the federal government employs 2.0%. The percentage of employees working for a government agency (15.6%) is 0.9% higher than the national average. The chart below illustrates the breakout of employees by type of employer.
The average weekly wage in Colorado is $1,134 per week, which is 3.0% less than the national average of $1,101 per week. Colorado workers that are employed by private businesses earn $1,140 per week, 3.6% greater than the national average for private company employees. Employees of federal government agencies in Colorado earn $1,616 per week, a premium of 41.8% compared to what employees of private companies earn. The chart below illustrates the average weekly by type of employer.
Leading Sectors
Businesses by Sector
The sector with the greatest number of businesses in the state is Professional services with 18.5% of the businesses in the state. Construction (9.7%) and Healthcare (9.1%) round out the top 3 sectors.
Table: Sectors by # of Businesses
| Sector | # Businesses | % of Bus. |
|---|
| Professional services | 37,814 | 18.5% |
| Construction | 19,866 | 9.7% |
| Healthcare | 18,556 | 9.1% |
| Retail trade | 17,822 | 8.7% |
| Other services | 16,391 | 8.0% |
| Accommodation and food services | 13,667 | 6.7% |
| Wholesale trade | 13,520 | 6.6% |
| Real estate and rental | 12,103 | 5.9% |
| Waste services | 11,790 | 5.8% |
| Finance and insurance | 11,203 | 5.5% |
| Manufacturing | 5,802 | 2.8% |
| Information | 4,171 | 2.0% |
| Transport and warehousing | 4,106 | 2.0% |
| Arts and entertainment | 3,261 | 1.6% |
| Educational services | 3,097 | 1.5% |
| Company management | 2,882 | 1.4% |
| Unclassified | 1,822 | 0.9% |
| Agriculture and forestry | 1,701 | 0.8% |
| Mining and oil extraction | 1,556 | 0.8% |
| Utilities | 409 | 0.2% |
Employees by Sector
The sector with the greatest number of employees in the state is
Healthcare with 11.2% of the employees in the state.
Accommodation and food services (10.6%) and
Retail trade (10.2%) round out the top 3 sectors.
Table: Sectors by # of Employees
| Sector | # Employees | % of Emp' |
|---|
| Healthcare | 298,550 | 11.2% |
| Accommodation and food services | 282,470 | 10.6% |
| Retail trade | 272,664 | 10.2% |
| Professional services | 224,607 | 8.4% |
| Construction | 173,059 | 6.5% |
| Waste services | 158,514 | 5.9% |
| Manufacturing | 147,274 | 5.5% |
| Finance and insurance | 112,628 | 4.2% |
| Wholesale trade | 108,270 | 4.0% |
| Other services | 82,013 | 3.1% |
| Transport and warehousing | 77,454 | 2.9% |
| Information | 74,991 | 2.8% |
| Arts and entertainment | 56,845 | 2.1% |
| Real estate and rental | 52,146 | 2.0% |
| Company management | 40,824 | 1.5% |
| Educational services | 36,681 | 1.4% |
| Mining and oil extraction | 28,209 | 1.1% |
| Agriculture and forestry | 18,142 | 0.7% |
| Utilities | 8,030 | 0.3% |
| Unclassified | 2,012 | 0.1% |
Average Weekly Wage by Sector
The sector that pays their employees the highest is
Company management paying $2,617per week compared with the state average of $1,140.
Mining and oil extraction ($2,323) and
Utilities ($2,010) round out the top 3 sectors.
Table: Wages by Sector
| Sector | Wkly Wage | vs St Avg. |
|---|
| Company management | $2,617 | 229.6% |
| Mining and oil extraction | $2,323 | 203.8% |
| Utilities | $2,010 | 176.3% |
| Information | $1,938 | 170.0% |
| Professional services | $1,882 | 165.1% |
| Finance and insurance | $1,851 | 162.4% |
| Wholesale trade | $1,644 | 144.2% |
| Manufacturing | $1,359 | 119.2% |
| Unclassified | $1,336 | 117.2% |
| Construction | $1,200 | 105.3% |
| Real estate and rental | $1,143 | 100.3% |
| Transport and warehousing | $1,091 | 95.7% |
| Healthcare | $985 | 86.4% |
| Waste services | $847 | 74.3% |
| Educational services | $800 | 70.2% |
| Other services | $788 | 69.1% |
| Agriculture and forestry | $737 | 64.6% |
| Arts and entertainment | $730 | 64.0% |
| Retail trade | $624 | 54.7% |
| Accommodation and food services | $451 | 39.6% |
Leading Industries
Businesses by Industry
Each broad sector is made up of specific industries. In Colorado. the industry with the most businesses is
Restaurants and other eating places with 5.1% of the businesses in the state (with 10,426 employing 214,386 workers).
Computer systems design and related services (4.6%) and
Management consulting services (3.4%) round out the top 3 industries. The Top 10 Industries in the state are:
| Industry | # Businesses | Emp/Biz |
|---|
| Restaurants and other eating places | 10,426 | 20.6 |
| Computer systems design and related services | 9,331 | 6.6 |
| Management consulting services | 6,963 | 3.3 |
| Offices of real estate agents and brokers | 5,598 | 1.6 |
| Private households | 4,744 | 1.2 |
| Residential building construction | 4,321 | 4.1 |
| Accounting and bookkeeping services | 4,067 | 5.0 |
| Offices of lawyers | 3,726 | 4.6 |
| Insurance agencies and brokerages | 3,479 | 4.0 |
| Offices of physicians | 3,237 | 11.5 |
Employees by Industry
The industry with the greatest number of employees in the state is
Restaurants and other eating places with 8.0% of the businesses in the state. The industry employs 214,386 in 10,426 businesses, there are 20.6 employees on average in each of these businesses.
Computer systems design and related services (2.3%) and
General medical and surgical hospitals (1.8%) round out the top 3 industries.
Table: Industries by # of Employees
| Industry | # Emp | Emp/Biz |
|---|
| Restaurants and other eating places | 214,386 | 20.6 |
| Computer systems design and related services | 61,386 | 6.6 |
| General medical and surgical hospitals | 49,332 | 632.5 |
| Temporary help services | 44,327 | 34.7 |
| Hotels and motels except casino hotels | 41,594 | 32.2 |
| Management of companies and enterprises | 40,824 | 14.2 |
| Supermarkets and other grocery stores | 40,120 | 63.1 |
| Offices of physicians | 37,312 | 11.5 |
| Engineering services | 35,500 | 12.0 |
| General merchandise stores including warehouse clubs and supercenters | 35,488 | 73.6 |
Average Weekly Wage by Industry
The industry that pays their employees the most is
Spectator sports, paying $9,001 compared with the state average of $1,140.
Pipeline transportation of crude oil ($6,508) and
Open-end investment funds ($4,335) round out the top 3 industries.
Table: Wages by Industry
| Industry | Wkly Wage | % of Avg |
|---|
| Spectator sports | $9,001 | 789.6 |
| Pipeline transportation of crude oil | $6,508 | 570.9 |
| Open-end investment funds | $4,335 | 380.3 |
| Securities and commodity exchanges | $4,076 | 357.5 |
| Investment banking and securities dealing | $3,971 | 348.3 |
| Commodity contracts brokerage | $3,665 | 321.5 |
| Other financial vehicles | $3,617 | 317.3 |
| Crude petroleum extraction | $3,615 | 317.1 |
| Computer and peripheral equipment mfg. | $3,451 | 302.7 |
| Natural gas extraction | $3,369 | 295.5 |
Company Size
Colorado Businesses by Size
The
solopreneur company, has the most businesses in Colorado by far. 63.9% of all businesses in the state have fewer than 5 employees. The 191,481 small businesses in the state represent 96.1% of all private businesses. The national average is 92.6%. (Small businesses have fewer than 50 employees, Solopreneurs employ fewer than 5.) The pie chart below illustrates the ratio of business sizes.
Colorado Employees by Business Size
The largest companies in the state represent 80.6% of all employees, which is 57.9% lower than the national average of 138.4%. Smallest companies also employ a lower percentage of the states workforce than the largest companies. The
solopreneur (those that employ fewer than 5) companies employ 90.8% of all workers, which is 0.7% lower than the national average of 91.5%. All small companies, those employing fewer than 50 people, represent 546.8% of the labor force in the state, 3.2% less than the national average of 550.0%.
Colorado Avg Weekly Wages by Business Size
The smallest companies in Colorado (those with fewer than 5 employees) pay workers 17.2% more than the national average ($1,178 per week as compared to the national average of $975 per week). The largest companies in Colorado (those with more than 1,000 employees) pay 12.2% workers below the national average ($1,677 per week as compared to the national average of $1,882 per week).
Data Sources
About the Writer
This page was created and is maintained by Kurt Tietjen, Founder of Stavera, High Peak Media & HomeGearWorks.com. Kurt is an executive, data scientist and software engineer who holds an MBA in Management Information Systems. In 2010, he partnered with scientists at Northwestern University to launch The Street Wire. This was one of the first mainstream uses of what would become “Narrative Science”, an artificial intelligence platform specializing in natural language generation. You can contact Kurt on LinkedIn here.