Colorado offers a fertile environment for tech success
By: Development Research Partners, Inc.
Colorado is a premier hub for technology and information companies and industry activities. The state employed more than 149,400 workers in the technology and information industry in 2014, which includes companies that may develop, produce or provide software, hardware, telecommunications, electronics, data management, Internet-based services and other information services.
Colorado’s central geographic location and extensive infrastructure provides companies with ease of deliverability and accessibility across the U.S. and around the world. Colorado has a strong corporate presence of large and small technology and information companies and is a leading high-tech state with the third-highest concentration of high-tech workers in the nation.
The state’s technology and information industry is further supported by the Colorado Technology Association and the Colorado Innovation Network (COIN).
A large pool of talented, well-educated and highly skilled workers provides a strong foundation for the state’s technology and information industry. Colorado has the nation’s second-most highly educated workforce and ranked seventh in the nation for the number of scientists and engineering doctorate holders as a percentage of the workforce. Colorado ranked second in workforce education, third in high-tech jobs and sixth in information technology jobs.
Colorado’s technology and information industry employees earn more than the average private sector worker. The 2014 average annual salary for technology and information workers in the state was $104,730, more than double the average annual salary for all workers in Colorado. The state had the sixth-highest average high-tech wage and Denver ranked 13th for average high-tech wage. Technology workers in the Denver-Boulder area had the third-highest salaries in the U.S.
Colorado is an ideal location for electronics firms to locate, benefiting from proximity to customers in related industries. Electronics companies also represent top private employers across the state including Arrow Electronics, Hewlett Packard, Seagate and Intel.
Arrow Electronics, the Colorado-based electronics distribution and services company, was recognized by Fortune as one of the world’s most admired companies for the 14th consecutive year in 2014. Arrow Electronics supplies about 40 percent of the electronic components and services globally, and is Colorado’s largest revenue generating company.
Colorado is a leader in wireless and wired networks. Since 2011, AT&T invested nearly $550 million in wireless and wired networks across the state and made 292 network upgrades in Colorado in 2013. Verizon Wireless launched faster mobile broadband technology, while Sprint launched its enhanced LTE network in Denver. CenturyLink began offering Internet speeds of 1 gigabit per second to its Metro Denver customers in 2014.
The state’s technology and information industry is bolstered by strong manufacturing activity. Durable goods manufacturing employment increased for the third-consecutive year in 2014. A significant portion of this growth was from computer and electronic products manufacturing, which represents 16 percent of total manufacturing employment in Colorado and 25 percent of the state’s exports.
SOURCES: Development Research Partners, www.developmentresearch.net. Economic Modeling Specialists International, 2015. • Fortune. “World’s Most Admired Companies 2014.” https://fortune.com/worlds-most-admired-companies. • National Science Foundation, www.nsf.gov. U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, www.census.gov/acs/www • The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, 2014 State New Economy Index • TechAmerica Foundation, Cyberstates 2013 • TechAmerica Foundation, Cybercities 2010 • U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. www.bls.gov • U.S. Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration, 2014 • U.S. Census Bureau, Computer and Internet Use in the United States: 2011
