Colorado remains a leader in the nation’s high-paying aerospace sector, but could risk losing ground as other states expand into the field, according to observers inside and outside the industry.

A look at how Colorado businesses have been expanding across the state offers broader context for the industries driving the state's economic growth.

“We think this is an area that the state could improve its game on and become more competitive against some of those other states that are very well funded and very organized,” said Bob Cone, program manager at Aerospace Colorado, an association promoting the state's aerospace and defense industry.

“We are not as well organized right now," said Cone, who's also a board member for the Colorado Space Business Roundtable.

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Cone told The Center Square he agreed with a new Colorado Chamber of Commerce report about aerospace - an industry that gives a boost to the state's tax base.

In a state that often faces budget squeezes, the aerospace industry brought in an estimated $399 million in taxes across 2025, according to the chamber's report. The total state budget is $46.8 billion.

Colorado’s aerospace industry, valued at $14.2 billion according to the Colorado Chamber of Commerce, directly supports over 61,000 jobs in the state.

"It keeps our universities going," Cone said. "It keeps CU Boulder [University of Colorado, Boulder] going, which graduates the largest number of aerospace engineer graduates of any university in the country. It keeps those aerospace program educators employed and in Boulder, but also in Colorado Springs, in Denver, in Golden at the School of Mines and other places where they are educating the aerospace workforce."

"There's an economic impact too from all those people going to school and getting advanced degrees and supporting those education institutions in addition to what they do when they go out and become part of the workforce, working for an aerospace company," said Cone. "They buy a house, they buy food, and they go up to the mountain skiing - all of the things that we do here in Colorado."

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Advocates argued the sector is under competitive pressure, while Governor Jared Polis called the chamber's report “strange.”

“Colorado is in a good, strong position now,” said Rachel Beck, executive director of the Colorado Chamber Foundation. “But in order for us to keep that position, we're going to need to be more proactive in terms of how we support the industry and how we are doing economic development related to it – if we're going to keep up with other states.”

The aerospace industry has long been a major player in Colorado, with an economic presence going back to before NASA’s formation in 1958, Cone said.

The industry directly supported over 61,000, or roughly 2% of the state’s total job market, with a typical salary of $179,500 – nearly double the average Colorado worker’s. Beck added that each aerospace job created two more jobs in the state.

“These are good, high-paying jobs for Colorado,” said Beck. “Many of them don't require a degree. There are lots of opportunities in the industry for a variety of folks to earn a good living.”

But the industry has begun to see some warning signs as other states look to expand their footprint in aerospace, according to the Colorado Chamber report.

Beginning late 2025, the White House ordered the relocation of the U.S. Space Command headquarters to Alabama from Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado. Between 2019 and 2025, Colorado added over 9,000 aerospace jobs, keeping up with the standard pace of industry growth over that period, according to the chamber's report. But in 2025, the state lost 171 jobs in the industry.

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"I don't know that represents a downturn as much as it is a blip," said Cone of Aerospace Colorado. "At least that's how I would see it right now, because I walk and talk and shake hands with aerospace people pretty much all day every day, and it just seems to me that companies are growing."

The Colorado Chamber report argued the state has too many regulations in place that slow down business development and make it too costly.

Beck gave the example of slow building permits in Colorado making other states more attractive to business. In August, Polis signed an executive order to simplify the building permit process.

“Colorado’s aerospace industry is growing fast in part from our work at the state to build and support the strongest aerospace workforce, including by building more housing, investing in education and pathways to skills while saving families money, and attracting businesses that create more jobs and grow our economy,” Polis told The Center Square in an email. “These are all part of the reasons Colorado is the best place to start and grow a company, especially in aerospace one of our fastest growing areas.”

The Democratic governor also highlighted NASA’s selection of Arapahoe Community College, located in the Denver area, as an Aerospace Workforce Hub in August.

But with the fear of outside competition slowing Colorado’s aerospace industry and eating at its tax base, the chamber’s report recommended several changes. The chamber's biggest priorities are for the state government to increase its support for the industry through better marketing and fewer regulations.

“What we're looking for is for the state to really support [aerospace] from an economic development perspective,” said Beck. “Doing things like marketing our state as a hub for those businesses, removing barriers to permitting and making it easier for businesses to get into sites that they need.”

The chamber also called for more workforce training programs from the state and for Colorado to become a more business-friendly environment.