Denver-metro trade and transport jobs, September 2026
Denver-metro trade, transportation and utilities employers had 284,200 people on payroll in September 2026, down 1.5% from a year earlier. That is 17.3% of all payroll jobs in the metro, against 17.6% a year before.
The broadest supersector in the survey: wholesale and retail trade, warehousing, trucking, air and water transport, couriers and utilities.
The two charts answer different questions. The count peaked at 306,300 in December 2023 and says whether the sector is hiring. The share — from 22.0% in January 1990, with a high of 22.1% in December 1990 and a low of 17.3% in September 2026 — says whether it is growing faster or slower than the rest of the economy.
Not seasonally adjusted, so compare a month with the same month a year earlier. The share is computed at read time from two series in the same BLS release, so it stays consistent when the levels are revised.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, State & Area Employment, trade, transportation and utilities and total nonfarm payrolls, Denver–Aurora–Centennial MSA, not seasonally adjusted, via FRED (DENV708TRADN, DENV708NAN). The share is derived at read time. Auto-generated each build.