Who are the biggest employers in the Boulder area? I get asked this question a lot from people that are thinking about moving to Boulder Colorado.  Everybody wants to live in this beautiful place and who wouldn’t with 300 days of sunshine and some of the best educational institutes around the nation right here in our backyard.  Colorado University is by far one of the largest employers; founded in 1876, CU is a tier 1 research institute that received more than $266 million dollars in sponsored research awards in 2007.  It sits on 600 acres right in the heart of Boulder Colorado, which by the way, was named America’s Smartest City by Forbes magazine in 2008. 

Naropa University also in the heart of Boulder, Naropa is a private liberal arts university founded in 1974 by a Tibetan Buddhist teacher Chogyam Trungpa.  Although it no longer has formal religious affiliation, it does describe itself as “buddhist-inspired contemplative education”.

Boulder seems to really inspire a culture of entrepreneurship and the range of specialized smaller businesses are infinitesimal – lots of stores and businesses related to sports or staying healthy!

Hey, here’s a good one -Boulder County Business Report announced in Feb 2008 that ConocoPhillips Co’s plan to open a Global Technology and Corp. learning center in Louisville and local economic developers say that it will put Colorado and Boulder Valley on the map as a leader in energy reform.

Another interesting place to work in Boulder would be the NCAR Mesa Lab operated byUCAR - University Corporation for Atmospheric Research , NCAR’s Mesa Lab in south Boulder off of Table Mesa receives substantial funding from NSF (National Science Foundation) and the NCAR building is a well known site in South Boulder.

NIST, National Institute Standards and Technology, was founded in 1901 to promote US innovation and industrial competitiveness in ways that enhance economic security and improve our quality of life with two location, one in Boulder, Colorado and the other in Gaithersburg MD.

Another company you might have heard of is Celestial Seasonings, also located in Boulder.  Although not a huge employer it’s a well know national company right here in Boulder.  They make herbal and specialty teas, supplements and nutraceuticals.

Now for the BIG Guns…..Check out the top 11 Largest Employers in the Boulder area:

1.  IBM Corp – 6300 Diagonal Highway  – aprox 4200 employees – selling computer software, hardware & services

2.  Sun Microsystems Inc. - 500 Eldorado Blvd. Broomfield, CO – aprox 3800 employees – selling computer software, hardware and services; network computer systems

3.  Ball Corp. – 10 Longs Peak Dr, Broomfield – aprox 3000 employees – manufactures mtal and plastic packaging materials for the food and everage industry

4.  Boulder Community Hospital - 1100 Balsam Street, Boulder – employs aprox 2300 employees, specializes in cardiology oncology, orthopedics, obstetrics, neurology and rehabilitation

5.  Level 3 Communications, Inc. - 1025 Eldorado Blvd., Broomfield – employs aprox 3000 employees – they sell communications services to the world’s top 300 bandwidth customers on 23,000 mile fiber optic network in Europe and N. America

6.  Seagate Technology LLC - 398 Disc Drive in Longmont – aprox 1300 employees, disk drives, magnetic disks and read-write heads

7.  Valleylab, 5920 Longbow Dr. in Boulder – generators and instruments used in electrosurgery, vessel sealing and other treatments, employ aprox 1300 people.

8.  Safeway – a retail grocer, employs aprox 1250 people in and around the Boulder area

9.  Longmont United Hospital, 1950 W. Mountain View Ave, employs aprox 1250 people and specialize in Level III trauma services, Level II nursery, 15-beg transitional care unit, open-heart surgery and neurosurigical services.

10. Exempla Good Samaritan Medical Center, in Lafayette employ aprox 1150 people and specialize in cardiovascular care, level II neonatal care, emergency and trauma services, KidsTrek, orthopedics, general surgery, occupational medicine, OB/GYN, neurosurgery, pediatrics, lab and radiology, level III trauma, accredited chest pain center

11.  Amgen Inc., located at 4000 Nelson Rd in Longmont, employs around 1000 people and specialize in the manufacturing of biologics.  At this Longmont location they make buld ingredients for Epogen and Aranesp for anemia; these drugs account for half of the company sales.

I hope this helps to give you an idea of how versitile the employment is in the Boulder Colorado area and I wish you much luck in finding your next job here.   Don’t forget to call me when you get here for a personal tour and to buy your next house!!