Colorado Workers On Average Earn More Than The U.S As A Whole

A new report shows that workers in Colorado, on average, earn a higher wage than the U.S as a whole.

As per the Colorado Occupational Employment and Wages report released on Mar. 26 by the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, Colorado workers made an average hourly wage of $29.25 in 2020, which is about 8% above the U.S. average of $27.07.

In addition, workers in the Boulder area are reportedly the best paid in Colorado, earning an average of $33.87 an hour. Within the Boulder metro statistical area, which includes all of Boulder County, 181,420 jobs were accounted for in 2020.

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The most common occupation in the area was software developer, according to the report.

The state accumulated the data for this report from a survey of 6,833 businesses in November 2019 and May 2020.

In Larimer County, where there were 156,030 total workers last year, workers in the county earned an average hourly wage of $27.01. In the Fort Collins metropolitan statistical area, which includes Larimer County, the most common job was retail salesperson.

The Greeley metropolitan statistical area, which accounts for Weld County, saw a total of 104,510 jobs in 2020 that paid an average of $25.17 an hour. The most common job in the area was heavy-truck and tractor-trailer driver.

When taking the entire state into account, the most common occupational groups in 2020 include office and administrative support (314,260 workers), sales and related jobs (268,680) and food preparation and serving related occupations (215,880). These groups accounted for 31% of total employment in Colorado.

The report showed workers in management roles had the highest average wage at $67.65 per hour, while food preparation and service workers were paid the lowest, at $15.07 an hour.

Overall, the Boulder metropolitan statistical area had the highest overall average and median wages, meaning Boulder workers earned the most among metropolitan statistical areas across the state in 2020.