New business filings increased in Colorado between the fourth quarter of 2023 and first quarter of 2024, but at a slower pace that lagged behind activity a year ago.

Other indicators tracking economic growth and the labor market continued to reflect resiliency, however.

“Today’s report shows Colorado remains a national leader for businesses and workers with strong employment, labor force participation, GDP growth and rising business renewals,” said Jena Griswold, Colorado secretary of state.

Brian Lewandowski, executive director of the business research division of the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado at Boulder, agreed. “While some national economic indicators are sending mixed signals, the Colorado economy has demonstrated that it continues to outperform most other states.”

The division prepares quarterly business and economic reports based in part on business filings recorded with the secretary of state’s office.

For the first quarter of 2024, the office reported 45,150 new entity filings. That was up 10 percent from the fourth quarter of 2023, but down 19.2 percent from the first quarter of 2023.
The year-over-year decrease was attributed in part to a decrease in fees for limited liability companies that resulted in surge of new filings a year ago.

For the 12-month period ending with the first quarter of 2024, 185,072 new entity filings were reported. a 1.4 percent decline over the same period a year ago.

New entity filings constitute a leading indicator of subsequent business and job growth.

A total of 209,443 existing entity renewals were reported during the first quarter of 2024, a 19.9 percent increase over the fourth quarter of 2023 and 7.9 percent gain over the first quarter of 2023.

For the 12-month period ending with the first quarter of 2024, 731,049 existing entity renewals were reported, up 4.3 percent from the same period a year ago.

Both quarterly and annual renewals climbed to their highest levels going back to 2005.

Business dissolution filings also increased, however, with 16,814 reported in the first quarter of 2024, up 16.2 percent from the fourth quarter of 2023 and 20.1 percent from the first quarter of 2023. For the 12-month period ending in the first quarter of 2024, 54,566 dissolution filings were reported, up 7.7 percent from the same period a year ago.

As of the end of the first quarter of 2024, 962,699 entities remained in good standing in Colorado.

The statewide seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in Colorado stood at 3.7 percent in April, the latest month for which estimates are available. Nonfarm payrolls increased 51,800 over the past year, a growth rate of 1.8 percent. The labor participation rate held steady at 68 percent in April.

The Consumer Price Index for the Denver, Aurora and Lakewood region increased 2.8 percent on a year-over-year basis in March.