Economic Impact
- The state has had consistent low rates of unemployment even in the recovery periods after the Great Recession and the COVID-19 lockdown phase and the Colorado economy has also been able to quickly return to pre-pandemic levels of labor force and employment.
- The tech industry generated over $76 billion in GSP in 2021, accounting for 18 percent of the state’s total economic output.
- In 2021, when one job was added in the tech industry, another 2.42 jobs were added elsewhere in the economy. This amounts to a total job impact of 3.42. This multiplier of 3.42 jobs was one of the largest across the Colorado economy.
- In the last two years, the entire tech industry added a net of 9,680 jobs – a 3.7 percent growth rate – and over the last five years, the tech sector added almost 38,300 net new jobs, the most jobs added by any major industry in the state.
- In 2021, Colorado was the second most concentrated tech industry economy, only behind Massachusetts.
- Job growth in Colorado’s tech industry has been strong since the recovery from the Great Recession. The state followed national trends of growth, but then in 2017 started to accelerate and grow at even higher rates. Colorado has been the strongest player in the emergence of tech in the Intermountain West. The future looks strong for the industry as Lightcast models predict growth over the next 10 years for the state at a higher rate than the nation and the average for the Mountain West region.
- In 2021, the Kauffman Foundation found that Colorado had the 8th highest rate of new entrepreneurs in the nation.
