US City Economic Forecast: Denver

Though not quite as rapidly as Phoenix, Denver has seen significant in-migration and job growth over the last two years. Employment in Q1 2022 had just recovered to Q1 2020 levels, making it rank in the top 20 of the 50 largest metros on this metric. Its GDP growth rate of 5.9% from Q4 2019 to Q1 2022 ranks 12th of the top 50 metros. We expect Denver to see job growth of 3.9% in 2022 but then slow to 1.0% on average from 2023 2026. In addition to restaurants, state and local government, construction, arts and recreation are expected to add the most jobs in the next five years. Led by air transport, real estate, and data processing and other information, GDP will grow 4.5% in 2022, then settle at 2.6% annually from 2023-2026, higher than the US rate of 2.1%.

What you will learn:

• Denver’s employment growth has outpaced the US by a slim margin and is expected to continue to do so.
• Denver’s FIRE sector contributes the most to GDP, while retail, hospitality, government, health, and education employ the most.
• From 2022 to 2026 Denver’s professional services and FIRE sectors are expected to drive GDP growth, while hospitality will add the most jobs.
• Denver has a low old-age dependency ratio, a high number of college-educated residents, and a high number of residents in STEM fields.