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The 10th annual CNBC America’s Top States for Business report revealed Colorado as third in the nation, scoring 1,555 out of a possible 2,000 points in various categories including education, cost of living, infrastructure, and quality of life.
The survey results show Colorado ranked in the top 10 for workforce, economy, technology and innovation, business friendliness, and access to capital. In other areas, however, Colorado lags nationally, including in public education funding, where our fair state ranked 42nd in per-pupil spending.
The CNBC report states that Colorado’s lone number one ranking in the workforce category is due to a consistent influx of college-educated workers, strong job growth in fields like tech, aerospace, and healthcare, coupled with an unemployment rate well below the national average. Denver’s population alone, where 42.5 percent of residents have a Bachelor’s Degree or higher, grew by 101,000 people in 2015. The Centennial State’s worst rating was for cost of doing business (rank 37), but businesses can take credit for relatively low individual and corporate tax rates, sitting at 4.63 percent, and a reasonable state sales tax.
Colorado trails top-ranked Utah (1,598 points) and runner-up Texas (1,564), which tops the economy category.
CNBC ranks 60 publicly available metrics across 10 categories to determine each year’s rankings, but also weighs each category according to its usefulness in marketing a state’s economy and development. Read the full breakdown of what Colorado and other states have to offer.