Summary:
Nearly 64,000 clean energy workers are employed in Colorado across every county after the sector added 2,700 workers last year.
Clean energy accounted for 4 percent of all net new jobs as the state’s clean energy workforce was powered by a 14 percent increase in clean vehicle jobs and a 6 percent increase in storage, battery, and grid modernization jobs. Since 2020, Colorado’s clean energy workforce has grown 11 percent faster than overall employment and 50 percent faster than employment in the overall energy industry.
Energy efficiency continued to lead the state’s overall energy workforce, accounting for close to a quarter of all energy jobs in Colorado and 56 percent of all clean energy jobs. Renewable energy came in second with 18,000 jobs followed by 4,600 jobs in clean vehicles—an increase of nearly 50% since 2020. Colorado was also one of only six states to have more than 5,000 workers in both solar and wind industries as the two sectors combined to account for more than 16,000 of all renewable energy jobs.
Other Key Findings
- Colorado was #18 nationally for total clean energy jobs
- Colorado was #6 nationally in total wind and solar jobs
- Denver and Colorado Springs led all metros for the most clean energy jobs, with 38,300 and 5,600 jobs respectively.
- Denver County was home to the greatest number of clean energy workers with nearly 12,700 total jobs across all clean energy sectors, followed by Arapahoe County (7,300 jobs) and Jefferson County (6,100 jobs).
- Yuma County led all counties in job growth with a more than 100 percent increase in clean energy jobs in 2022 as the county’s clean energy workforce grew to 142. Clear Creek County was second in clean energy job growth with a 60 percent jump, followed by Logan and Kit Carson counties that each saw a 30 percent increase in jobs.
- Broomfield County and Logan County led all counties with the greatest number of clean energy jobs per capita with 82 and 67 clean energy workers per 1,000 overall county jobs respectively.
- 22,000 Colorado clean energy jobs were in construction and manufacturing.
Clean Energy Employment, by sector
| Energy Efficiency | 35,847 |
| Renewable Gen. | 18,022 |
| Clean Vehicles | 4,693 |
| Storage + Grid | 3,240 |
| Clean Fuels | 1,978 |
| TOTAL | 63,780 |
Previous Reports
Clean Jobs Colorado 2023 is the 7th clean energy jobs report for Colorado from E2. Previous reports can be accessed in the below links.
Background
This is the seventh annual Clean Jobs Colorado report produced by E2 based on analysis of the USEER, which was first released by the DOE in 2016. E2 was an original proponent of the DOE producing the USEER and was a partner on the reports produced by the Energy Futures Initiative (EFI) and National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO) after the Trump administration abandoned it in 2017.
For additional insight into E2’s Clean Jobs Colorado or our other annual clean energy economic reports, visit e2.org/reports.
An FAQ is available at e2.org/reports/clean-jobs-america-faq.