Colorado energy profile

Manufacturing energy costs in Colorado

The current industrial power rate in Colorado is 9.54 cents per kWh (Jul 2026, EIA), ranking 24 of 51 states and sitting 2.4% below the national average.

Current prices in Colorado

  • Industrial electricity: 9.54 cents per kWh (Jul 2026, EIA).
  • Commercial electricity, the rate a warehouse or distribution center in Colorado typically pays: 13.81 cents per kWh.
  • Industrial natural gas: 9.49 per Mcf (Jul 2026), 107.2% above the national average.
  • Just below Colorado on the price ladder: Indiana at 9.16, Florida at 9.17, Arizona at 9.35 cents. Just above: Michigan at 9.81, South Dakota at 9.83, Missouri at 9.87 cents.

What the rate does to operating cost

  • A 10 kW machine running a 4,000 hour year costs about 3,816 in electricity at Colorado rates versus 3,908 at the national average; at 50 kW the gap is 19,080 versus 19,540, and at 200 kW it is 76,320 versus 78,160.
  • 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 145,000 manufacturing workers as of Aug 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 2026-09-30.