Jan. 9, 2020 – Today the U.S. Census Bureau released the first state and local area data from the 2017 Economic Census Geographic Area Statistics. As part of today’s release, estimates for  the first state to be made available, Colorado, are out for detailed and broad industry levels defined by the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) for the following sectors:

• Utilities (NAICS 22)
• Transportation and Warehousing (NAICS 48-49)
• Information (NAICS 51)
• Finance and Insurance (NAICS 52)
• Real Estate and Rental and Leasing (NAICS 53)
• Professional, Scientific and Technical Services (NAICS 54)
• Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services (NAICS 56)
• Educational Services (NAICS 61)
• Health Care and Social Assistance (NAICS 62)
• Arts, Entertainment and Recreation (NAICS 71)
• Accommodation and Food Services (NAICS 72)
• Other Services (NAICS 81)

The remaining data for Colorado will be released over the next few months, and all states released after today, will follow a similar model of release for all covered 2- through 6- digit North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes. Statistics for all covered NAICS codes will be released on a flow basis for all 50 states, the District of Columbia, 3,166 counties and 16,237 cities and towns that meet publication standards. These statistics include the number of establishments, total employment, annual payroll and total sales, receipts or revenue. Data on expenses, inventories and a wide variety of other statistics are also available for selected sectors.

“Business statistics released at the state and local level are vital to understanding how the economy is performing across the country, not only at the national level,” said Nick Orsini, associate director for Economic Programs at the U.S. Census Bureau. “Businesses and policymakers use these statistics to make decisions that further impact the health of their local communities and we need to be responsive in measuring local economic change.”

For the first time, 442 new cities and places will qualify to be separately published in the 2017 Economic Census due to population or workforce growth. For updates, a complete schedule of when industries will be released and a new interactive “What’s Been Released by State?” map, check the Release Schedule. For a full listing of all geographic changes from 2012 to 2017, check Geographies.

Here are a few selected estimates for Colorado, the first state to be included in this release. For more data on other geographic areas and industries, visit data.census.gov:

• Transportation and Warehousing businesses in Colorado reported $15.9 billion in revenue in 2017.
• There were 5,910 finance and insurance businesses in the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood metropolitan statistical area in 2017.
• Professional, scientific, and technical services businesses in Boulder County reported 27,086 employees in 2017.
• The 420 real estate and rental and leasing businesses in Fort Collins, Colo., reported $56.6 million in annual payroll in 2017.

All dollar values are expressed in current dollars, not adjusted for price changes. The data presented in the 2017 Economic Census local area release series will supersede national level estimates released during the First Look release. For more information about economic census methodology and data limitations, see Methodology.

On Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2020, at 2 p.m. (EST), the Census Bureau will host a webinar on accessing these local area statistics from the Economic Census using data.census.gov. This webinar will highlight tips on how best to access the data given the flow release. To learn more about the webinar, check here. 

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