Colorado Springsruns on a handful of strong industries. If you’re job-hunting or weighing a move, here’s where the opportunities (and the big-name employers) are.
Top industries & employers
Military installations
Fort Carson, Peterson Space Force Base, Schriever Space Force Base, Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station, US Air Force Academy
Five installations in one metro. They anchor the economy directly and set the calendar for the south and north sides — but almost every civilian role attached to them needs a clearance.
Space & defence contracting
Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, L3Harris, BAE Systems, Booz Allen Hamilton, Peraton, Parsons
The largest source of well-paid private jobs in the city, and the one where citizenship is a hard filter. US Space Command's headquarters is relocating to Huntsville, Alabama, which is the live question hanging over the sector here.
Cybersecurity
National Cybersecurity Center, Catalyst Campus for Technology and Innovation
A deliberate local cluster built around the military demand signal, with a downtown campus that mixes startups, primes and government tenants. Cleared and uncleared work both exist, but the money is on the cleared side.
Olympic & national sport governance
US Olympic & Paralympic Committee, USA Hockey, USA Swimming, USA Boxing, USA Cycling, USA Triathlon
The USOPC is headquartered here alongside dozens of national governing bodies and the Olympic & Paralympic Training Center — an administrative and coaching employment cluster that exists in no other US city.
Healthcare
UCHealth Memorial Hospital, Children's Hospital Colorado at Memorial, CommonSpirit Penrose-St. Francis
Memorial is a city-owned hospital system operated under a long lease by UCHealth, which is an unusual arrangement and makes it a genuinely municipal asset. It is the region's trauma centre for all of southern Colorado.
Financial operations & semiconductors
T. Rowe Price, Progressive, USAA, Microchip Technology
Large back-office and service campuses drawn by lower costs than Denver, plus a semiconductor fab that is one of the few manufacturing employers of scale. These are the main uncleared alternatives to the defence economy.
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