Metro Job Market Pulse · General Market Conditions · September 2026
General Market Conditions Labor Market Report: Denver-Aurora, CO MSA — September 2026
Denver cools from strength as Colorado posts third straight jobs decline.
Denver-Aurora unemployment near 3.9% still beats Colorado's rising 4.0% statewide rate, even as the state logs its third consecutive monthly job loss and metro wages climb 5.8% annually against a national slowdown to 2.5%.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- Denver-Aurora unemployment rate: 3.9% — vs Colorado 4.0%, U.S. 4.1-4.2%
- Colorado monthly job change: -1,400 (Aug) — Third consecutive monthly decline in 2026
- Metro median wage growth: 5.8% YoY — vs national advertised wage growth of 2.5%
- Colorado labor force participation: 67.4% — Down from 68.1% a year earlier
Key takeaways
Denver's labor market is still outperforming the state average.
Metro unemployment around 3.9% in mid-2026 remains below Colorado's climbing 4.0% statewide rate and well under the national 4.1-4.2% range, suggesting the metro core retains more resilience than the state's job-loss headlines imply.
Wage growth is holding up locally even as the national picture softens.
Denver-area median pay growth of 5.8% annually contrasts with a national wage slowdown to roughly 2.5-3.0%, a gap that may reflect continued demand concentration in technical and professional occupations rather than broad-based tightness.
Sector splits mean the metro's 'health' depends on which lens you use.
Education, health services, trade and government are projected to add jobs statewide while information, financial activities and professional/business services contract — a divergence that makes single aggregate figures less useful for assessing commercial real estate, retail spending, or tax-base stability.
Falling labor force participation, not just layoffs, is shaping the numbers.
Colorado labor force participation slipped to 67.4% from 68.1% a year earlier, driven partly by reduced international migration — a demographic constraint that affects available workforce independent of local hiring demand.
Median advertised pay by role — Denver-Aurora, CO MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail Sales Associate | $31,855 | $37,440 | $41,173 | Stable | $33,325 |
| Retail Cashier | $31,533 | $35,724 | $39,000 | Stable | $31,200 |
| Warehouse/Fulfillment Associate | $36,900 | $43,160 | $44,772 | Stable | $38,000 |
| CDL Truck Driver | $59,885 | $76,748 | $85,935 | Stable | $78,000 |
| Delivery Driver | $34,487 | $40,165 | $46,800 | Moderate decline | $34,344 |
| Construction Laborer | $38,555 | $45,760 | $49,920 | Stable | $40,560 |
| Electrician | $59,800 | $74,875 | $81,640 | Moderate increase | $71,404 |
| Manufacturing Production Worker/Assembler | $34,585 | $42,640 | $45,760 | Stable | $39,520 |
| Customer Service Representative | $36,850 | $41,933 | $46,800 | Stable | $39,520 |
| Food Service Worker | $32,431 | $40,156 | $45,760 | Moderate decline | $33,756 |
| Certified Nursing Assistant / Home Health Aide | $39,888 | $48,000 | $49,920 | Stable | $41,106 |
| Administrative Assistant/Office Clerk | $37,440 | $47,259 | $53,040 | Moderate increase | $43,680 |
| HVAC Technician | $63,893 | $74,529 | $83,200 | Moderate increase | $70,720 |
| Registered Nurse | $84,625 | $97,760 | $105,157 | Moderate increase | $102,581 |
| Software Engineer | $114,351 | $152,470 | $166,500 | Moderate increase | $153,652 |
| Data Engineer | $99,231 | $142,320 | $158,666 | Moderate increase | $139,500 |
| Accountant | $60,700 | $72,803 | $80,543 | Moderate increase | $72,182 |
| Financial Analyst | $75,098 | $97,495 | $103,707 | Moderate increase | $94,782 |
| HR Generalist/Manager | $62,500 | $80,863 | $88,121 | Significant increase | $75,000 |
| Marketing Specialist | $47,207 | $61,986 | $73,039 | Moderate increase | $62,354 |
| Operations Manager | $82,338 | $96,029 | $103,143 | Significant increase | $85,216 |
| Elementary/Secondary School Teacher | $46,800 | $62,345 | $67,634 | Moderate increase | $56,731 |
| Account Manager | $65,000 | $94,856 | $116,381 | Significant increase | $92,749 |
| Warehouse Manager | $51,506 | $52,203 | $53,015 | Significant decline | $75,000 |
| Business Analyst | $81,047 | $98,259 | $110,173 | Moderate increase | $98,279 |
WageScape's median is calibrated to correct for spurious low-value postings (reported as the 60th percentile of raw advertised pay). Download: CSV · JSON
Industry snapshot
| Sector | Median advertised pay | Pay trend | Postings trend |
|---|---|---|---|
| Construction | $85,202 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Manufacturing | $110,500 | Significant increase | Moderate increase |
| Retail Trade | $47,871 | Stable | Moderate increase |
| Transportation, Warehousing & Utilities | $72,800 | Significant increase | Moderate increase |
| Information | $124,578 | Significant increase | Significant decline |
| Financial Activities | $103,511 | Significant increase | Moderate decline |
| Professional & Business Services | $90,000 | Significant increase | Moderate increase |
| Education & Health Services | $68,640 | Significant increase | Significant increase |
| Leisure & Hospitality | $41,444 | Stable | Moderate increase |
| Government | $73,189 | Significant increase | Significant decline |
Local market conditions
Denver-Aurora unemployment has edged up alongside a statewide trend, with Colorado's rate reaching 4.0% in August as the state posted its third straight monthly job loss, even as metro wage growth continues to outpace the national pace of 2.5%. Slower international migration and a Colorado net domestic out-migration in 2025 appear to be constraining labor force growth, while sector performance diverges sharply: education, health services, trade and government are expanding even as information, financial activities and professional/business services contract.
What it means
Cooling momentum alongside still-elevated wage growth suggests Denver's economy is decelerating from a position of relative strength rather than entering outright contraction, a distinction that matters for how commerce leaders calibrate expansion timing and public-sector economists read labor slack. Divergent sector performance — healthcare and trade expanding while information and financial activities shed jobs — means metro-wide aggregates can mask meaningfully different local conditions depending on which corridor or industry cluster a leader is tracking. Current conditions suggest monitoring sector-specific job postings and WARN filings over broad unemployment headlines when assessing which parts of the regional economy are actually absorbing or releasing labor.
Looking ahead
Potential inflection point: Colorado has now posted three consecutive months of statewide job losses; a fourth month in the September or October release would mark a trend shift worth flagging in any public economic commentary.
Worth watching: Information and financial activities continue shedding jobs statewide (roughly 5,600 and 5,300 respectively between June and July) — watch whether Denver's finance and tech employers follow the national pattern of white-collar contraction.
Early indicator: Net domestic out-migration from Colorado in 2025 was unique among peer states; continued softness in labor force participation over the next two months would reinforce a structural, not cyclical, supply constraint.
Emerging pressure point: National WARN-tracked layoffs remain elevated at major employers (Amazon, Meta, Verizon, Oracle); Colorado's own WARN filings are down 11% year over year, a divergence worth confirming as new fourth-quarter notices post.
Methodology
Advertised pay from active employer job postings, not survey data. WageScape's median is calibrated to correct for spurious low-value postings: distribution analysis shows roughly the lowest 10% of raw values are erroneous entries, so the reported median is the 60th percentile of raw advertised pay. WageScape observes 98% of U.S. job openings daily.
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