Mark Samuelson’s piece in The Denver Gazette lays out a problem Colorado’s political class would rather bury under a ribbon-cutting photo and a “Colorado is open for business” bumper sticker. A new Common Sense Institute report says Colorado ranked 48th out of 50 states in net business births in 2024 and dead last in physical establishment openings and closures per thousand residents.
The article also notes the tension between those ugly numbers and rosier state data showing new business filings were up in the first quarter. That may sound comforting, until you remember filing paperwork is not the same thing as building, hiring, expanding, and staying. A guy registering an LLC from his kitchen table does not cancel out major employers packing boxes for Florida.
The Bullet Point Brief
- The Common Sense Institute says Colorado lost a net 3,934 business establishments in 2024, with 28,121 births and 32,055 deaths. That is not “economic vibrancy.” That is a smoke alarm with a press release taped over it.
- Colorado ranked 48th among states for net establishment births per thousand residents. We beat almost nobody. Somewhere, Oregon is looking at us and saying, “Yikes.”
- The state ranked dead last for openings and closures of physical business locations, at negative 2.25 establishments per thousand residents. When you finish behind Massachusetts in business climate, it is time to stop blaming the weather.
- State officials can still point to nearly 55,000 new business filings in the first quarter, up 12.3% year-over-year. Fine. But filings are not payrolls, storefronts, factories, headquarters, or confidence. They are paperwork. Government loves paperwork because paperwork never tells it to stop spending.
- Palantir and Re/Max are both headed toward Florida, according to the article. Maybe that is just coincidence. Or maybe businesses like lower taxes, less regulatory nonsense, and a government that does not treat job creators like an invasive species.
My Bottom Line
The outlook keeps getting worse for our once great state, and nobody should act shocked. What did people expect after nearly 16 years of Democrat governors and nearly 8 years of total Democrat control at the state legislature? You can only stack fees, rules, mandates, and political hobby horses so high before businesses start looking for the exit.
Under Gov. Jared Polis, the Gold Dome crowd has not met a regulation or fee it could say no to. They call it progress. Businesses call it math. And math has a nasty habit of ignoring campaign slogans.
The funniest part, if you enjoy dark comedy, is that Polis signed onto a letter warning that Colorado is scaring away businesses. That is like the arsonist joining the neighborhood watch. Nice gesture. Still smells like smoke.
Businesses are voting with their feet. Good for them. Many Coloradans cannot just uproot their lives, farms, shops, families, and mortgages because Denver discovered another way to make everything more expensive and less functional. So we are stuck living with the consequences while the same crowd that created the mess schedules another economic development panel and orders pastries.
Source: Mark Samuelson
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