Colorado is not only a nice place to live. It’s also a good place to work. A recent Portfolio.com study identified the country’s ten best mid-size markets for businesses. Fort Collins and Colorado Springs took third and secenth place respectively, while Boulder took top honors as the number one mid-size business market in the country today.
The Portfolio.com study evaluated metropolitan areas with regional populations from 250,00 to 750,000 residents. Twenty statistical categories were tabulated, capturing metrics such as economic health, workforce education levels, cost of living, traffic congestion, housing prices, median household income and more. Boulder earned high scores across the board. Among the findings:
-56% of Boulder adults hold bachelor’s degrees. Only eight other markets in the study topped 35%.
-More than half of Boulder’s workforce holds management or professional jobs, the highest paying category.
-Boulder’s median household income is $65,960, seventh highest in the study group, while its poverty rate of just 5.8% is seventh lowest in the study group.
“As a hub for high-tech industries and the home of the University of Colorado, Boulder has attracted a young, highly educated workforce,” G. Scott Thomas, who created the report for Portfolio.com, said in a statement. “It’s also worth noting that Boulder is among the 10 medium markets with the highest home values, lowest unemployment rates, and largest percentages of self-employed workers.”
The report complements a recent Portfolio.com report on large U.S. metro areas. In that report, Denver ranked sixth on the list of best places to live in the United States. Coincidence? We think not. Colorado’s front range continues to be one of the best places in the country to live, work and play.
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