regions depend on these diverse industries for
economic growth.
Aerospace: Colorado comes in second
place among the 50 states for private aerospace employment concentration. More
than 58,000 private sector workers and military personnel worked in aerospace in 2013.
Four military commands, eight major space
contractors and more than 300 aerospace
companies and suppliers call Colorado home.
Aviation: Aviation companies in Colorado
employ more than 15,910 workers, many
at Denver International Airport and three
reliever airports. The metro region ranks 11th
among the nation’s 50 largest metro areas for
aviation employment concentration.
Bioscience: The Denver metro region’s
bioscience businesses employ 4,780 biotech-
nology and pharmaceuticals workers and
10,310 workers in medical device and instru-
ment production. Fitzsimons Life Science
District and the Anschutz Medical Campus
in Aurora, along with ten other local higher
education institutions, offer bioscience
programs and research assets.
Broadcasting and Telecommunications:
Its location in the Mountain Time Zone is a
boon to Denver’s broadcasting and telecommunications industries. Denver is located
in the largest U.S. region with one-bounce
satellite uplinks, giving companies real-time
connections to six of seven continents. The
city has a mix of broadcasting and telecommunications companies, and the region
ranked sixth out of the biggest 50 metro
areas for employment concentration in these
industries in 2013. 2,560 broadcasting and
telecommunications companies directly
employ 40,640 workers in the Denver area.
Energy: Denver’s location in the Rocky
Mountain region, which contains abundant
natural resources, makes it a key player in
the energy industry. Fossil fuel production
booms in the area, with large concentrations
FORTUNE 1,000 COMPANIES
CO Rank Company Industry National Rank 2014 Revenues ($ millions) HQ Location
Arrow Electronics Wholesalers:;Electronics;&;Office Equipment 1 118 $23,825 Centennial
DaVita Health Care: Medical Facilities 2 181 $15, 197 Denver
DISH Network Telecommunications 3 186 $15,095 Englewood
Liberty Interactive Internet Services & Retailing 4 269 $10,647 Englewood
Ball Packaging, Containers 5 306 $9,061 Broomfield
Newmont Mining Mining, Crude Oil Production 6 328 $8,379 Greenwood Village
Level 3 Communications Telecommunications 7 336 $8, 172 Broomfield
Western Union Financial Data Services 8 478 $5,423 Englewood
Liberty Media Entertainment 9 491 $5,276 Englewood
CH2M Engineering, Construction 10 494 $5, 236 Englewood
Molson Coors Brewing Beverages 11 522 $4,885 Denver
White Wave Foods Food Consumer Products 12 577 $4, 198 Denver
Chipotle Mexican Grill Food Services 13 599 $3,904 Denver
EchoStar Network & Other Communications Equipment 14 719 $3,057 Englewood
MDC Holdings Homebuilders 15 857 $2,327 Denver
Woodward Aerospace & Defense 16 931 $2,023 Fort Collins
Sourse: Fortune Magazine, May 2017. Revised June 2017, Metro Denver EDC
Denver’s location in the Rocky
Mountain region, which contains
abundant natural resources, makes it
a key player in the energy industry.
Fossil fuel production booms in the
area,with large concentrations of
coal, oil, and natural gas.
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