Employment decreased in 7 of the 9 largest counties in Colorado from September 2024 to September 2025, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Acting Regional Commissioner Jerome Watters noted that Denver County had the largest over-the-year decrease in employment, with a loss of 1.4 percent. (See chart 1 and table 1.)

  

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Chart 1. Over-the-year percent change in covered employment among the largest counties in Colorado, September 2025

County	Percent change, September 2025
Denver	-1.4
Boulder	-1.2
El Paso	-1.0
Jefferson	-0.9
Larimer	-0.9
Adams	-0.8
Arapahoe	-0.7
Douglas	0.5
Weld	1.1

Among the nine largest counties in Colorado, employment was highest in Denver (560,100) in September 2025. Together, the nine largest counties accounted for 80.9 percent of total covered employment within the state. Nationwide, the 372 largest counties comprise 73.2 percent of total covered employment in the United States. (Large counties and county equivalents are those with annual average employment levels of 75,000 or more in 2024.)

All nine large Colorado counties reported average weekly wage increases over the year. (See chart 2.) Larimer had the largest increase (+9.3 percent). Over-the-year wage changes for Colorado's other large counties ranged from 6.3 percent to 3.0 percent.

  

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Chart 2. Over-the-year percent change in covered average weekly wages among the largest counties in Colorado, third quarter 2025

County	Percent change, third quarter 2025
Larimer	9.3
Denver	6.3
Douglas	5.8
El Paso	5.5
Adams	5.3
Jefferson	5.0
Boulder	4.9
Weld	3.8
Arapahoe	3.0

Weekly wages in 5 of the 9 largest counties in Colorado were above the national average of $1,459. Average weekly wages ranged from $1,971 in Denver to $1,311 in Weld.

Employment and wage levels (but not over-the-year changes) are also available for the 55 small counties in Colorado, defined as having employment below 75,000 in 2024. (See table 2.) Wage levels in 53 of the 55 smaller counties were below the national average. Broomfield reported the highest average weekly wage ($2,525). Baca reported the lowest average weekly wage ($769) in the state.

Among all 64 Colorado counties, 21 reported average weekly wages of $949 or less, 17 had wages from $950 to $1,099, 11 had wages from $1,100 to $1,249, and 15 had average weekly wages of $1,250 or higher. (See map 1 and table 2.)

QCEW data for states have been included in this release in table 3.

Nationwide coverage of the largest counties is published in the County Employment and Wages news release. Additional information about quarterly employment and wages data is available in the news release Technical Note and from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages website.

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The County Employment and Wages release for the fourth quarter 2025 is scheduled to be released on Tuesday, June 2, 2026.