Denver attracts talent.

Denver’s workforce is the greatest competitive asset we have to offer relocating and expanding businesses. An active, intelligent, and skilled workforce is the key to growth for Denver area businesses and industries. Colorado has the third-most highly educated workforce in the nation with 35.5 percent of resident holding a bachelor’s degree or higher.

According to the U.S. Census, Colorado had the second-highest migration rate in the U.S. between 1995 and 2000 for unmarried college graduates, with Metro Denver having the sixth-highest migration rate among all U.S. cities.

Strong Minds from Elementary to Higher Ed

The City and County of Denver has an innovative and surging K-12 school system, and residents and businesses have convenient access to top-tier higher educational institutions such as the University of Colorado, Colorado State University, the University of Denver, and the Colorado School of Mines.  Denver’s K-12 school system is innovative and vibrant with a variety of educational options, including East High School, a public high school with a rigorous college prep curriculum and ten charter schools. 

The Denver metro area is also home to many top-tier higher educational institutions, with 59 colleges and universities within a 30-mile radius of Denver. The City and County of Denver alone is home to 32 higher education institutions, providing service to over 65,000 students in 2003-04.

A few of our acclaimed institutions include:

K-12 System

• George Washington High School’s International Baccalaureate program is ranked first in the Colorado for excellence, and in the top 50 nation-wide.
  
  
• Denver School of the Arts is the only comprehensive arts magnet program in the Rocky Mountain Region, winner of numerous national education and arts awards.
  
  
• The Denver School of Science and Technology is a new charter school, initiated through  $14 million in funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Colleges and Universities

• University of Denver, whose Daniel’s School of Business was ranked No. 9 in the country in Wall Street Journal’s 2004 business school ranking. The mission of the Daniels College of Business is to foster enlightened practice, professional achievement and a commitment to community among those engaged in management and the business professions.
  
  
• University of Colorado, which was rated the No. 11 public academic institution in the world by Economist magazine, 2004. Based in Boulder, Colorado, a 45 minute drive from Denver, the University of Colorado at Denver and the Business School call downtown Denver home.
  
  
• Colorado State University, the world’s leading university for infectious disease research is home to one of only two research locations for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. Located 90 minutes north of Denver, Colorado State University provides graduate level courses and programs in downtown Denver.
  
  
• Colorado School of Mines, one of the foremost engineering schools in the world located in Golden, Colorado, 20 minutes away from Downtown Denver. Among other vocations, geologists and petroleum engineers are trained here. The average starting salary offered for undergraduates is $49,111. And more than 90 percent of all CSM graduates are placed within one year of graduation.