Revolutionizing · Modernizing · Simplifying
Revolutionizing · Modernizing · Simplifying
Two-thirds. That is the number that should stop you cold.
Two-thirds of Colorado business leaders now believe the state's economy is on the wrong track. That is straight from the Colorado Chamber of Commerce's latest poll, and CEO Loren Furman said as much to Colorado Politics. When two out of three people signing paychecks think the ship is pointed the wrong way, somebody at the Capitol tends to notice.
So on July 22, 2026, Governor Jared Polis and OEDIT (that is the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade) rolled out something called the Governor's Competitiveness Council. And here is the thing that makes this one worth your attention. It is not another government committee talking to itself. It is a public-private partnership actually led by the business community, with the government leaders riding along.
The job is pretty concrete for once. Benchmark Colorado against the states that are eating our lunch. Then figure out the legislative, policy, and regulatory changes that could pull us back up.
Seth Levine, partner and co-founder at the Boulder venture firm Foundry, put it about as bluntly as a VC can. Colorado "isn't as competitive as it used to be." His read on the council's job is simple. Figure out where we actually stand against our rivals, then make recommendations somebody can act on.
Eve Lieberman, who runs OEDIT, said Colorado businesses are "facing new headwinds" as competition heats up. And look, the complaints are not a mystery. Rising prices. A regulatory process that makes people want to pull their hair out. And the big one, the one I hear constantly, employers who cannot hire because nobody can afford to live here.
This is the part people miss. The business problem and the housing problem are the same problem wearing two different hats.
CPR reported on a Romer Institute analysis back on July 14 that put a number on it. Colorado's housing premium over the national average hit 27% in 2024. Back in 2010 that number was 12%. So in about fourteen years we have more than doubled how much extra it costs to plant yourself here versus the rest of the country. That same analysis stacked us up against Arizona, North Carolina, Texas, Utah, and Washington, which are exactly the states poaching companies and workers right now.
And that housing crunch is not just a homebuyer headache. It is a recruiting problem. When a company tries to bring in talent and the recruit does the math on a mortgage in Denver, the deal gets a lot harder. Hayley and I watch this play out in the real estate numbers all the time. The premium is real, and it is scaring off exactly the kind of workers the state needs.
It shows up in the jobs forecast too. CU Boulder's Leeds Business Research Division is projecting statewide job growth of just 0.6% in 2026. That is roughly 17,500 jobs. Constrained, they say, by slower population growth and lower immigration. When people stop moving in, the whole engine cools down.
The executive committee steering this thing is not a bunch of random names. You have got OEDIT, the Colorado Community College System, the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, the Colorado Chamber of Commerce, the Colorado Business Roundtable, the Colorado Technology Association, and the Colorado Building and Construction Trades Council. Business, tech, education, and the trades all in one room. That is a decent cross-section if you actually want to fix hiring and housing at the same time.
And the timing here is not an accident. The Denver Metro Chamber just put out a report showing a slowing Colorado economy, which pushed them into a "State of the Cities" event with the Denver and Aurora mayors. Everybody is looking at the same slowdown from a slightly different chair.
Here is the deadline that makes this more than a press release. The council plans to drop a strategic roadmap this fall. And those findings do not just get filed away. They go straight to the gubernatorial candidates and to the Colorado General Assembly.
Read that again. This is being built to land right before the next governor's race and the next legislative session. Whoever is running is going to get handed a document that says, here is exactly where Colorado is losing ground and here is what to do about it. That is either a gift or a liability depending on which side of the podium you are standing on.
Because the reputation hit is already on the board. Colorado has dropped out of CNBC's top 10 states for business, per prior Denver Gazette reporting. We spent years as the state everybody wanted to copy. Now we are the state writing a plan to catch back up.
So watch for that roadmap this fall. That is when we find out if this council has teeth or if it is just another nice binder on a shelf at the Capitol. The 27% housing premium is not going to fix itself, and neither is that two-thirds number. If you own a business here, or you are just trying to buy a house here, this is the one to keep an eye on.
