DENVER, CO (Dec. 10, 2025) – Clean energy jobs grew more than five times faster in Colorado than the rest of the state’s economy in 2024, raising the total number of clean energy workers in the state to 69,859 – 18th most in the country – according to the second annual Clean Jobs Colorado report released today by the national, nonpartisan business group E2 and our partners the Energy Efficiency Business Coalition, and the Colorado Solar & Storage (COSSA) Institute.
Last year, Colorado added 2,739 clean energy jobs, the 12th largest growth in the country for 2024 ahead of Arizona, Washington, and Ohio.
“Clean energy continues to uplift Colorado’s economy,” said Susan Nedell, E2’s Senior Western Advocate. “The overall state employment saw a dip in numbers in 2024, but clean energy added thousands of jobs.”
Jobs in energy efficiency, renewable generation, storage and grid, and other clean energy subsectors continued to grow faster than the broader economy, accounting for an increasingly large share of the state’s workforce. The energy efficiency sector hosts more than half of Colorado’s clean energy jobs, supporting over 40,300 jobs in 2024.
“While solar and wind often get the spotlight as the dominant clean energy sectors, cost-effective energy efficiency has been an anchor and continues to be a driving force behind Colorado’s clean energy growth. Expanding more than 6 percent is a truly impressive figure for the energy efficiency space,” said Patricia Rothwell, Executive Director of the Energy Efficiency Business Coalition.
However, clean vehicles-related jobs saw a slight dip in 2024, losing 55 jobs after hitting a record high of 5,148 workers at the end of 2023. Clean vehicles-related jobs took a similar hit across the entire country, as did jobs related to internal combustion engine vehicles.
Though not reflected in the 2024 data, recent policy actions by Congress and the Trump administration—to kill projects, revoke tax credits, cancel permits and add new regulatory red tape—have already caused major job losses in the clean energy industry, with more expected to come. According to separate E2 research, since January 2025 companies canceled more than $24 billion in planned clean energy related factories and other projects in the U.S. that were expected to create 21,000 new jobs. It’s important to note that Colorado has not seen any project cancellations yet this year, so those numbers reflect the state of clean energy projects across the entire country.
With clean energy companies and investors reeling from federal decisions to slash clean energy support, the sector’s importance to the region’s overall economy is clearer than ever. Clean energy now accounts for more than 70 percent of all energy and vehicle-related jobs in the state, and 2.4 percent of all jobs. Industry-wide, a third of Colorado’s clean energy jobs (more than 23,000 jobs) are in construction or manufacturing.
“Low-cost solar energy paired with long-duration storage is a win in one of the sunniest states in the country.” said KC Becker, Executive Director of the COSSA Institute. “Considering the substantial job growth rate in the storage sector [4.6%, second only to energy efficiency], the state is poised to provide Coloradans with an abundance of affordable, clean energy.”
Denver County is home to 13,300 clean energy workers, the most in Colorado.
| County | Total Clean Energy Jobs in 2024 |
| Denver | 13,300 |
| Arapahoe | 7,673 |
| Jefferson | 6,966 |
| Boulder | 6,629 |
| El Paso | 5,751 |
| Adams | 5,332 |
A note on demographics: Veterans made up 9.4 percent of the clean energy workforce for Colorado in 2024.
For more information, data requests, or to speak with clean energy business leaders in your area, contact Daniel Baker ([email protected]; 202-836-9390).
Methodology
This analysis of U.S. clean energy employment is based on employment data collected and analyzed by the BW Research Partnership for the 2025 U.S. Energy and Employment Report (USEER). The USEER analyzes data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) to track employment across many energy production, transmission and distribution subsectors. In addition, the 2025 USEER relies on a unique supplemental survey of 42,800 business representatives across the United States. Created and conducted by BW Research, the methodology has been approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). This survey is used to identify energy-related employment within key subsectors of the broader industries as classified by the BLS and to assign them into their component energy and energy efficiency sectors.
A full methodology on the sectors and types of jobs this analysis includes and does not include is available in E2’s Clean Jobs America report here.
Other Resources
- Clean Jobs America 2025 Report and Map
- Clean Economy Works | Monthly Tracking: More details plus an interactive map of each of these projects shows what’s trending in America’s booming clean economy.
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E2 is a national, nonpartisan group of business leaders, investors, and professionals from every sector of the economy who advocate for smart policies that are good for the economy and good for the environment. Our members have founded or funded more than 2,500 companies, created more than 600,000 jobs, and managed more than $100 billion in venture and private equity capital. For more information, see www.e2.org or follow us on LinkedIn (@e2org) or X/Twitter at @e2org.
The COSSA Institute is a Colorado-based 501(c)(3) organization focused on accelerating the clean energy movement through community investment. The COSSA Institute provides the necessary tools, training, and resources to grow and expand the solar and storage industry — keeping up with market demand for clean energy.
The Energy Efficiency Business Coalition (EEBC) is a statewide trade association of non-utility companies that provide energy efficiency, demand response, and data analytics products and services in Colorado. Founded in 2008, EEBC’s member businesses include demand-side management implementation and evaluation experts, demand response companies, engineering and architecture firms, data analytics firms, contractors, financing experts, commercial energy service companies, workforce training entities, and manufacturers and distributors of energy efficiency products and equipment.