Colorado energy profile

Manufacturing energy costs in Colorado

The current industrial power rate in Colorado is 9.47 cents per kWh (May 2026, EIA), ranking 30 of 51 states and sitting 8.7% above the national average.

Current prices in Colorado

  • Industrial electricity: 9.47 cents per kWh (May 2026, EIA).
  • Commercial electricity, the rate a warehouse or distribution center in Colorado typically pays: 13.13 cents per kWh.
  • Industrial natural gas: 7.28 per Mcf (May 2026), 70.5% above the national average.
  • Just below Colorado on the price ladder: Wyoming at 9.12, Nebraska at 9.25, Michigan at 9.43 cents. Just above: West Virginia at 9.48, New York at 9.55, South Dakota at 9.78 cents.

What the rate does to operating cost

  • A 10 kW machine running a 4,000 hour year costs about 3,788 in electricity at Colorado rates versus 3,484 at the national average; at 50 kW the gap is 18,940 versus 17,420, and at 200 kW it is 75,760 versus 69,680.
  • Colorado sits mid-pack for power cost, so energy is neither a site-selection advantage nor a penalty. Estimates built on national averages will land close here, though demand charges and rate schedules still swing the real bill.

What factory labor pays in Colorado

  • Industrial production managers: $67.80/hr median in Colorado versus $60.61 nationally (OEWS 2025).
  • Industrial engineers: $52.77/hr median in Colorado versus $49.25 nationally (OEWS 2025).
  • Production supervisors: $37.93/hr median in Colorado versus $35.79 nationally (OEWS 2025).
  • Industrial machinery mechanics: $36.35/hr median in Colorado versus $31.02 nationally (OEWS 2025).
  • Tool and die makers: $30.67/hr median in Colorado versus $30.79 nationally (OEWS 2025).
  • Machinists: $28.94/hr median in Colorado versus $28.24 nationally (OEWS 2025).
  • Colorado employs about 146,000 manufacturing workers as of Jun 2026 (BLS).

Manufacturing base in Colorado

  • Colorado has 5,031 manufacturing establishments employing about 133,767 workers (Census County Business Patterns, 2023).
  • Largest sectors by establishment count: fabricated metal products (820), food manufacturing (628), printing and related support (401), machinery manufacturing (300), chemical manufacturing (283).

Sources and update cadence

  • Prices come from the U.S. Energy Information Administration and refresh automatically when the agency publishes; this page also archives each month's Colorado observation so the local price history deepens over time.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.