Colorado Occupational Employment and Wages - 2024
The Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) program is a Federal-State cooperative program that provides estimates of employment and wages for over 800 non-military detailed occupations in 22 major occupational groups. Every year, the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, in partnership with the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), collects and publishes occupation and wage data for the State of Colorado and for ten substate regions: seven Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) and three Balance of State (BOS) Areas.
Statewide Highlights
Workers in the State of Colorado had a mean (average) hourly wage of $36.33 in 2024, about 11.2 percent above the US average of $32.66, according to the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment and the BLS. The statewide median hourly wage1 for all covered employment2 was $27.99 compared to the US median of $23.80.
Statewide Occupational Employment and Wages
The occupational groups with the most workers were office and administrative support (308,520 workers), sales and related (305,140), and food preparation and serving related occupations (273,300). These three groups accounted for about 31 percent of total covered employment. Legal occupations had the highest average wage, while food preparation and serving related occupations had the lowest (see Table 1).
Regional Occupational Employment
The most common occupations statewide were fast food and counter workers (78,720), retail salespersons (74,640), and stockers and order fillers (56,840), and the first two were also among the top three occupations in most of the substate areas (see Table 2).
Regional Occupational Wages
The Boulder MSA had the highest overall average and median wages, and the Eastern & Southern Colorado BOS Area had the lowest (see Table 3). Both Boulder and Denver had average and median wages that are higher than the statewide average and median (see Table 1).
Spotlight on: Construction and Extraction Occupations
This occupational group is composed of trades (brickmasons, plumbers, electricians, etc.), trades helpers (carpenter’s helper, etc.), construction-related occupations (inspectors, highway maintenance workers, hazardous materials workers, etc.), and extraction workers (derrick operators, explosives workers, mining machine operators, etc.). There were 138,470 workers employed in construction and extraction occupations in Colorado in 2024, with an average hourly wage of $30.39 and a median hourly wage of $28.80. Since 2014, employment has increased over 13 percent, and the real average hourly wage has increased by slightly over five percent (average hourly wage of $28.92 in 2014 after adjustment using Employment Cost Index factors).
About the Colorado Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics Survey
In Colorado, 3,906 businesses were initially surveyed beginning in November of 2023 and 3,895 were initially surveyed beginning in May of 2024. After excluding establishments that were out of business or out of scope, a total of 81.0 percent of 7,404 businesses provided information on the job titles and wages of their employees. These data were combined with responses from the previous two years (a total of six semiannual surveys) to produce the May 2024 occupational estimates highlighted in this document.
OEWS data are available from BLS at BLS OEWS data, on the CDLE LMI website, and at Colorado LMI Gateway. Industry-specific data (NAICS Sector and 3- and 4-digit, Excel files) are available at BLS OEWS research estimates.
1 The median wage (50th percentile wage) is the point at which one-half of workers make less than the amount and one-half make more.
2 Employment covered by state unemployment insurance laws or, for federal workers, covered by the Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees program.
Technical Note
The OEWS survey is a semiannual survey measuring occupational employment and wage rates for wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments in the United States. The OEWS data available from BLS include:
- cross-industry occupational employment and wage estimates for the nation and for over 580 areas, including states and the District of Columbia, MSAs, nonmetropolitan areas, and territories;
- national industry-specific estimates at the North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) sector, 3-digit, most 4-digit, and selected 5- and 6-digit industry levels;
- and national estimates by ownership across all industries and for schools and hospitals.
OEWS data are available at BLS OEWS data.
OEWS estimates are constructed from a sample of about 1.1 million establishments. Each year, two semiannual panels of approximately 186,000 to 189,000 sampled establishments are contacted, one panel in May and the other in November. Responses are obtained by Internet or other electronic means, mail, email, telephone, or personal visit. The May 2024 estimates are based on responses from six semiannual panels collected over a 3-year period: May 2024, November 2023, May 2023, November 2022, May 2022, and November 2021. The unweighted sampled employment of 83.5 million across all six semiannual panels represents approximately 55 percent of total national employment. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 65.7 percent based on establishments and 65.9 percent based on weighted sampled employment.
For more information about OEWS concepts and methodology, go to BLS OEWS technical notes.
May 2024 OEWS data are available for most 2018 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) detailed occupations. To improve data quality, the OEWS program has replaced some 2018 SOC detailed occupations with SOC broad occupations or OEWS-specific aggregations. Information about the SOC system is available on the BLS website at BLS SOC information and information about the NAICS system is available at BLS NAICS information.
New estimation methodology
Starting with the May 2021 estimates, the OEWS program implemented a new estimation method. This new model-based method, called MB3, has advantages over the previous estimation method, as described in the Monthly Labor Review article “Model-Based Estimates for the Occupational Employment Statistics program.” Technical information is available in the Survey Methods and Reliability Statement for May 2024.
Substate area definitions
The May 2024 OEWS estimates use the metropolitan area definitions delineated in Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Bulletin 23-01. Nonmetropolitan area definitions are specific to the OEWS program and are set in consultation with the state workforce agencies. For more information, please see BLS OEWS area definitions.
Additional information
Answers to frequently asked questions about OEWS, including uses of OEWS data, are available at BLS OEWS FAQs.
Note: The publication of Colorado's OEWS 2024 estimates has been delayed several months. For more information, please see this Notice from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.