As Colorado grows its reputation as an innovation hub, the state received high honors in a recent ranking of the hottest U.S. job markets.
The ranking comes from The Wall Street Journal, which used data from Moody’s Analytics to rank large metro areas across the nation. The rankings were based on unemployment rates, new jobs and wage growth, among other factors.
Denver ranked at No. 3 among metros with more than one million people and Boulder took the top spot for metros with under one million residents.
Both cities received top marks for wage growth, with Denver ranking at No. 4 in its category and Boulder checking in at No. 2 in its. Denver had the top spot among surveyed cities with a 70.7% labor force participation and Boulder ranked 11th in its category at 72.6%.
Denver jumped from No. 9 in the 2019 rankings, with Boulder making the leap from No. 20. Austin and Nashville were the only cities to beat out Denver in its category, with both cities touting a significant influx of tech jobs from Apple and Amazon.
As Google beefs up its Boulder presence and Amazon does the same in Colorado Springs, Colorado is increasingly becoming a popular destination for tech expansions, specifically from the Bay Area.
San Francisco startup Skupos, a data platform for convenience stores, announced in June that it had plans to add more than 120 jobs in Denver. In October, the Denver Business Journal reported that Robinhood planned to bring almost 800 jobs to Denver.
Denver and Boulder weren't the only Colorado cities to land a spot in the report, as Greeley and Fort Collins also landed in the top 10 of the fewer than one million category at No. 6 and 7 respectively.
Colorado Springs rounded out the state's representation in the top 50, checking in at No. 24.
