Larry Plummer: Rising Business Filings in Colorado May Signal Economic Distress, Not Vitality

Colorado crossed a historic milestone in 2025, surpassing one million businesses in good standing for the first time. New business filings increased 4.5% year-over-year in Q4 2025, adding 187,163 new entities throughout the year. On the surface, this entrepreneurial surge appears to validate Colorado’s reputation as a business-friendly state with a thriving innovation economy.

However, there is an alternative interpretation of this data. Although new registrations climbed, existing business renewals declined and delinquencies increased 9.2% year-over-year. Simultaneously, Colorado’s unemployment rate, though recently improved to 3.8%, peaked earlier in May 2025 at levels higher than the national average.