Good news for Colorado, Good Economy has yet to filter over to the Western Slope

Colorado’s Economy is ranked second best among the nation’s 50 state economies and Washington, D.C., according to Business Insider.  Colorado’s housing market had the most improvement in the country, with house prices rising 11.2 percent between Q1 2014 and Q1 2015.  The state’s 2014 gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of 4.7 percent also was very strong, and was the fifth best among the states.  Business Insider ranked the economies of the states and D.C. on seven measures:  unemployment rates, gross domestic product per capita, average weekly wages, and recent growth rates for nonfarm payroll jobs, GDP, house prices, and wages.  While not factored into the ranking, the study looked at Fortune 1000 companies headquartered in each sate, as well as the industries that had a disproportionately large share of employment in each state according to their location quotients.  This provided a little more insight into what makes each state economy tick.  Dish Network, Western Union, and Chipotle are three of the 23 Fortune 1000 companies headquartered in Colorado.