Denver cools from strength as Colorado posts third straight jobs decline.
3.9%
Denver-Aurora unemployment rate
vs Colorado 4.0%, U.S. 4.1-4.2%
-1,400 (Aug)
Colorado monthly job change
Third consecutive monthly decline in 2026
5.8% YoY
Metro median wage growth
vs national advertised wage growth of 2.5%
67.4%
Colorado labor force participation
Down from 68.1% a year earlier
This Month's Takeaways
01
Denver's labor market is still outperforming the state average.
Metro unemployment around 3.9% in mid-2026 remains below Colorado's climbing 4.0% statewide rate and well under the national 4.1-4.2% range, suggesting the metro core retains more resilience than the state's job-loss headlines imply.
02
Wage growth is holding up locally even as the national picture softens.
Denver-area median pay growth of 5.8% annually contrasts with a national wage slowdown to roughly 2.5-3.0%, a gap that may reflect continued demand concentration in technical and professional occupations rather than broad-based tightness.
03
Sector splits mean the metro's 'health' depends on which lens you use.
Education, health services, trade and government are projected to add jobs statewide while information, financial activities and professional/business services contract — a divergence that makes single aggregate figures less useful for assessing commercial real estate, retail spending, or tax-base stability.
04
Falling labor force participation, not just layoffs, is shaping the numbers.
Colorado labor force participation slipped to 67.4% from 68.1% a year earlier, driven partly by reduced international migration — a demographic constraint that affects available workforce independent of local hiring demand.
Local Economic Conditions
Denver-Aurora unemployment has edged up alongside a statewide trend, with Colorado's rate reaching 4.0% in August as the state posted its third straight monthly job loss, even as metro wage growth continues to outpace the national pace of 2.5%. Slower international migration and a Colorado net domestic out-migration in 2025 appear to be constraining labor force growth, while sector performance diverges sharply: education, health services, trade and government are expanding even as information, financial activities and professional/business services contract.
Open Threads in the Data
Cooling momentum alongside still-elevated wage growth suggests Denver's economy is decelerating from a position of relative strength rather than entering outright contraction, a distinction that matters for how commerce leaders calibrate expansion timing and public-sector economists read labor slack. Divergent sector performance — healthcare and trade expanding while information and financial activities shed jobs — means metro-wide aggregates can mask meaningfully different local conditions depending on which corridor or industry cluster a leader is tracking. Current conditions suggest monitoring sector-specific job postings and WARN filings over broad unemployment headlines when assessing which parts of the regional economy are actually absorbing or releasing labor.
Advertised Pay Indicators · WageScape Benchmark 25 Jobs
Job postings data for the Denver-Aurora, CO MSA metro — median advertised pay, its recent trend, and the number of active postings behind each figure. Jobs are grouped for readability and are not the same as the 10 sector classifications on the next page. For additional job detail contact WageScape.
Retail Trade
| Retail Sales Associate |
$37,440 |
→ Stable |
14,327 |
| Retail Cashier |
$35,724 |
→ Stable |
5,591 |
Transportation & Warehousing
| Warehouse/Fulfillment Associate |
$43,160 |
→ Stable |
4,353 |
| CDL Truck Driver |
$76,748 |
→ Stable |
14,777 |
| Delivery Driver |
$40,165 |
↓ Moderate decline |
10,000 |
| Warehouse Manager |
$52,203 |
↓ Significant decline |
13 |
Construction
| Construction Laborer |
$45,760 |
→ Stable |
653 |
Construction/Skilled Trades
| Electrician |
$74,875 |
↑ Moderate increase |
4,706 |
| HVAC Technician |
$74,529 |
↑ Moderate increase |
897 |
Manufacturing
| Manufacturing Production Worker/Assembler |
$42,640 |
→ Stable |
1,919 |
Cross-Sector
| Customer Service Representative |
$41,933 |
→ Stable |
6,366 |
| Operations Manager |
$96,029 |
↑ Significant increase |
43 |
Leisure & Hospitality
| Food Service Worker |
$40,156 |
↓ Moderate decline |
308 |
Healthcare
| Certified Nursing Assistant / Home Health Aide |
$48,000 |
→ Stable |
7,183 |
| Registered Nurse |
$97,760 |
↑ Moderate increase |
36,176 |
Admin/Office Support
| Administrative Assistant/Office Clerk |
$47,259 |
↑ Moderate increase |
6,650 |
Information/Technology
| Software Engineer |
$152,470 |
↑ Moderate increase |
26,334 |
| Data Engineer |
$142,320 |
↑ Moderate increase |
8,318 |
Professional & Business Services
| Accountant |
$72,803 |
↑ Moderate increase |
12,142 |
| HR Generalist/Manager |
$80,863 |
↑ Significant increase |
1,772 |
| Marketing Specialist |
$61,986 |
↑ Moderate increase |
2,167 |
| Business Analyst |
$98,259 |
↑ Moderate increase |
6,061 |
Finance & Insurance
| Financial Analyst |
$97,495 |
↑ Moderate increase |
3,272 |
Government/Education
| Elementary/Secondary School Teacher |
$62,345 |
↑ Moderate increase |
29,214 |
Cross-Sector Sales
| Account Manager |
$94,856 |
↑ Significant increase |
14,253 |
Industry Snapshot · Denver-Aurora, CO MSA
Advertised pay and job-posting trends across the whole metro economy, rolled up by employer industry — not just the bellwether roles above.
| Sector |
Median Pay Change |
Job Postings Change |
| Construction |
↑ +10.9% |
↑ +22.2% |
| Manufacturing |
↑ +17.4% |
↑ +7.7% |
| Retail Trade |
→ +2.8% |
↑ +6.9% |
| Transportation, Warehousing & Utilities |
↑ +12.2% |
↑ +7.9% |
| Information |
↑ +28.9% |
↓ −26.0% |
| Financial Activities |
↑ +13.8% |
↓ −6.5% |
| Professional & Business Services |
↑ +18.6% |
↑ +8.2% |
| Education & Health Services |
↑ +14.5% |
↑ +36.3% |
| Leisure & Hospitality |
→ +1.2% |
↑ +9.9% |
| Government |
↑ +20.7% |
↓ −13.7% |
Looking Ahead · Next 30–60 Days
Potential inflection point
Colorado has now posted three consecutive months of statewide job losses; a fourth month in the September or October release would mark a trend shift worth flagging in any public economic commentary.
Worth watching
Information and financial activities continue shedding jobs statewide (roughly 5,600 and 5,300 respectively between June and July) — watch whether Denver's finance and tech employers follow the national pattern of white-collar contraction.
Early indicator
Net domestic out-migration from Colorado in 2025 was unique among peer states; continued softness in labor force participation over the next two months would reinforce a structural, not cyclical, supply constraint.
Emerging pressure point
National WARN-tracked layoffs remain elevated at major employers (Amazon, Meta, Verizon, Oracle); Colorado's own WARN filings are down 11% year over year, a divergence worth confirming as new fourth-quarter notices post.
Sources & Methodology
Pay and hiring data provided by WageScape. See every source cited in this report, with links →
Advertised pay reflects the pay ranges employers publish in active job postings in this metro, not survey or payroll data. Pay trends compare the current period with the prior period for the same metro and role. Sector figures group postings by the employer's industry classification; sectors with limited classified postings are marked as such rather than estimated. This briefing is independent of, and complements, official statistics from the BLS and state labor market information offices.
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