Colorado Rankings : February 2017
It's only February, but Colorado is already having a successful year. New studies and reports have been released within the past month ranking Colorado highly. Here's a quick recap of the most recent findings:
Denver Ranked Second-Best Place to Live
The U.S. News & World Report recently released the 2017 Best Places to Live in the United States. Denver came in the second-place spot, right after Austin, Texas. The study analyzed the 100 most populated metro-areas to find the best places to live. They ranked each area from 1 to 10 on their desirability, value, job market, and quality of life.
Additionally, each category was weighted a different percentage according to a public survey conducted, where they asked what the most important factor was when choosing a place to live. For example, the Quality of Life index was weighted 30%, and Net Migration only 10%. The average score was then calculated for each city.
Denver's overall score was 7.5/10, Austin came in at 7.8/10.
Here's the breakdown for Denver:
Desirability: 8.4
Value: 7.2
Job Market: 8.0
Quality of Life: 6.8
Net Migration: 8.1
Read the full study & methodology here.
Denver Ranked No. 2 Best Place to Live for Software Engineers
Denver comes in directly behind Austin (again) to take the #2 best place to live for software engineers.
Hired, a career networking and recruiting platform, analyzed tech salaries and the hiring market globally using their own data from actual job offers made to real people. The report then breaks down rankings to find the best cities for software engineers in the United States. Denver comes in behind Austin due to our slight decrease in tech salaries in 2016, and Austin's slightly lower cost-of-living pushes the Texas city to the top.
Still, Denver's lifestyle continues to be extremely popular. Hired Data Scientist Jessica Kirkpatrick said that culture seemed to be a principle factor for Denver candidates. She said,
“[Denver] Candidates want to be a part of a company where they believe strongly in the mission. Candidates in Denver are willing to prioritize a company and product they can really have an impact on, so we find that ownership is often more important than salary for them.” via The Denver Post.
Colorado in Top Spot for Economic Growth
The most recent report from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis looked at annualized GDP rates across the country. The report found that our annual GDP rate jumped to 5.1% in the 3rd quarter of 2016, putting Colorado at No. 4.
The 5.1% growth is extra impressive when looking at Colorado's annual growth history: the previous four quarters all reported GDP growth rates between .6% and 1.2%. With the 4th highest growth rate in the country, we can't wait to see what comes next.
Check out the full report here.
Denver named a Top 10 Moving Destination by Penske Truck Rentals
In their seventh annual study, Penske Truck Rentals puts Denver at No. 4 for 2016 Top Moving Destinations in the United States. The No. 4 spot is the highest placement Denver's seen in the seven years; in 2015 we placed 6th.
The list is compiled through analysis and tracking of both in-person and online reservations for Penske Trucks. Atlanta, Georgia, has been ranked No. 1 for all seven years the study has been conducted. Read Penske's full study here.
Want more on Denver? Check out some of our past blogs about Colorado's awards, rankings, and more:
