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Page 8 — Office Properties Quarterly — December 2016
T hroughout 2016, the Denver
region received many acco-
lades, perhaps most notably
being named Forbes’ Best
Place for Business and Careers
for the second year in a row. As
someone who has lived and worked
here for 30 years, it wasn’t news
to me but, clearly, the secret is out
about our region.
Following are some of the factors
that make our metro area the best
place to run a business and to pursue
a career.
• A diverse economy. From aero-
space to agriculture, the Denver
metro area has solid footing in a
wide array of industries. Those busi-
nesses include sole proprietors (we’re
home to the fifth-highest concentra-
tion in the country) and Fortune 500
companies (10 are rooted in Colo-
rado) alike, from startups to family
owned businesses that have been
around since the 1870s. And it’s not
just a strong business sector that
makes us successful; we have out-
standing research institutions, fed-
eral labs and educational institutions
that also drive our economic success.
• Location is everything. The central
location in the U.S. and the ease of
travel out of Denver International
Airport make Denver a no brainer
for business and conventions. When
you combine that ease of travel with
Colorado’s great outdoors, including
58 14ers and 25 ski areas, you get $19
billion in tourism and outdoor recre-
ation each year in Colorado.
• An educated workforce. The state
has the second-most-educated
workforce in the country with 48
percent of our adults holding at least
a two-year degree.
This highly skilled
workforce is what
attracts so many
companies to Colo-
rado. We also have
a higher median
household income,
$71,146, compared
to the national
median income of
$55,775. Those sala-
ries help create a
great quality of life.
• Millennials
matter. You’ve no
doubt been talking about millennials
in your own business and for good
reason. Denver ranks third out of the
top 10 cities where millennials want
to move. Denver also ranks fourth for
millennials with at least a bachelor’s
degree – that’s 22.6 percent of people
working – and they are helping keep
our competitive advantage of a high-
ly educated workforce.
• Achievable work-life balance. More
than any other generation, millen-
nials place work-life balance as the
most important factor for choosing a
job. That’s no surprise, as the ability
to enjoy the outdoors or discover the
city has always been a selling point
for people who live and work here.
People care about health in Colorado.
We are the leanest adults in the
country and among the most active,
proving that citizens take time to
enjoy those great outdoors.
Areas for Improvement
Our greatest strength may be that
we are always looking at our weak-
nesses. At the Chamber of Com-
merce, we’re working on ways to
improve these challenges. We are
as committed today as we were 150
years ago to help chart our course by
continuing to work on some of the
most critical issues of our day.
• A place to call home. The median
home price in the Denver area this
fall was $350,000, which is a 10 per-
cent increase year over year. Our
housing market continues to be the
most expensive noncoastal mar-
ket and is $127,000 more than the
national average.
Workers earning the current
median incomes can’t afford to buy
a median-priced home, leaving many
out of the market. We will continue
to ask the state Legislature to address
this issue by creating a better process
to resolve disputes between builders
and condo owners. We also are work-
ing on strategies that can lower the
cost of building condos and assist
Colorado workers with down pay-
ments and loans.
• Sitting in traffic. When everyone
has good jobs, traffic can be bad. Traf-
fic congestion in Colorado costs driv-
ers $1.35 billion annually in delays
and fuel, which equates to an aver-
age of $913 per person in the Denver
area. In 2014, Denver drivers lost 49
hours due to congestion. While we
all agree this is a huge challenge,
we haven’t been able to get funding
to address road and bridge mainte-
nance for the entire state. We have
brought together the public, private
and nonprofit sectors to explore
the investments we should make in
transportation in the future.
• Homegrown talent. By 2020, 74
percent of our jobs will require some
education after high school. The state
is tied with Minnesota as the two
states requiring the most-educated
workforce. Today, only 28 percent
of Colorado’s students go to and
through post-secondary options on
time. We need to ensure our schools
prepare our kids for these opportuni-
ties. In addition, we started our own
workforce effort, the Denver Oppor-
tunity Youth Initiative to help prepare
our community.s
Kelly Brough
President and
CEO, Denver
Metro Chamber of
Commerce
Market Update
We also have a higher median
household income, $71,146,
compared to the national median
income of $55,775.