Mark Samuelson’s Denver Gazette article reports that several recent studies are flashing warning lights about Colorado’s business climate. The big picture is not exactly subtle: while state officials keep pointing to new business filings as proof that everything is peachy, other data shows Colorado losing business establishments, jobs, and confidence.
The article centers on a new Common Sense Institute report using U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Business Employment Dynamics data, which tracks business openings and closings. That report ranked Colorado near the bottom nationally for new business establishment growth in 2024, and dead last for net physical business locations. So yes, the welcome mat is apparently still out. It is just lying under a stack of fees, mandates, and regulatory paperwork.
The Bullet Point Brief
- Colorado ranked 48th out of 50 states for “net establishment births” in 2024, according to the Common Sense Institute report. That means Colorado had more business establishment deaths than births. Not exactly “Come for the mountains, stay for the compliance department.”
- CSI says Colorado lost a net 3,934 business establishments in 2024, with 28,121 births and 32,055 deaths. When the stork is outnumbered by the undertaker, maybe stop calling it a growth strategy.
- A separate Colorado Chamber of Commerce study cited by CSI found a net loss of 98 firms and 13,607 jobs from Colorado since 2019. That is not a rounding error. That is a scoreboard.
- State officials still have a talking point: nearly 55,000 new businesses registered in the first quarter, up 12.3% year over year, according to a University of Colorado Boulder report. Good news matters, but a filing with the Secretary of State is not the same thing as a thriving employer with payroll, leases, trucks, tools, and people depending on it.
- Big names are making noise on the way out. Palantir announced a move from Denver to Miami, and Re/Max Holdings is also headed toward Florida after a proposed purchase. When companies start forwarding their mail to a lower-tax state, perhaps Colorado should read the envelope.
My Bottom Line
The outlook keeps getting worse for our once great state, and nobody should act shocked. What did folks expect after nearly 16 years of Democrat governors and nearly 8 years of total Democrat control at the state legislature? Under Governor Polis and the Gold Dome crowd, Colorado has rarely met a regulation, mandate, or fee it could say “no” to. Businesses are now voting with their feet.
I do not blame a business owner for protecting payroll, investment, and future growth. If Colorado makes it too expensive, too uncertain, and too political to operate here, owners will go where they are treated like partners instead of piggy banks with office furniture. That is not greed. That is math. And math, unlike campaign slogans, eventually balances.
The frustrating part is that many families cannot just pack up and leave. They have land here. Kids in school here. Aging parents here. Churches, clients, farms, shops, and roots here. They are left paying the bill for statehouse experiments that sound compassionate in a committee hearing and land like a cinder block on a small business budget.
My principle is simple: government should reward work, protect property, and stay in its lane. Colorado needs to stop pretending that business confidence is automatic because the mountains are pretty. The next step is not another glossy task force. It is fewer mandates, fewer surprise costs, more local control, and a serious respect for the people who sign the front of the paycheck.
Source: Mark Samuelson
