Jobs in the Boulder, CO area: pay, hiring and remote work
The Boulder, CO metro area has 302 open job postings from 72 employers in our data. 54.3% list a pay range, the median posted pay is $145,000 a year, 15.2% are remote and 33.3% have been open more than 60 days (data as of October 2026).
What stands out
A $145,000 posted salary in the Boulder area buys about what $138,000 buys in the average US metro area, because prices here run 5% above the national average.
Housing costs run 57% above the US average here (BEA regional price parities).
After adjusting for local prices, the typical worker's official median wage ($69,500) is worth $66,000 in average-US dollars, 2nd of 99 metro areas.
54.3% of open job postings list a pay range, 10th of 99 metro areas.
15.2% of postings are remote, 3rd highest of 99 metro areas.
Boulder compared with similar-sized metro areas: the median wage divided by the local price level (US average prices = 100). Download this chart (SVG)
302open postings from 72 employers
54.3%list a pay range
$145,000median posted pay (middle half: $107,000 to $171,500)
15.2%remote
4.6%unemployment rate, 2026-08 (BLS)
$69,500official median wage for all jobs, May 2025 (BLS)
7.9%entry-level postings
The metro area's unemployment rate was 4.6% in 2026-08 (3.9% a year earlier) (BLS, not seasonally adjusted). Across Colorado, employers had 100,000 job openings in 2025-12, an openings rate of 3.3% (BLS JOLTS). Indeed's own measure of job postings in the metro area is 22% below its February 2020 level and 10.4% higher than a year ago (Indeed Hiring Lab, 2026-10-02).
City by city inside the metro area
Place
Postings
Employers
Pay listed
Median posted pay
Boulder, CO
186
55
59.4%
$146,500
Louisville, CO
58
5
38.6%
$165,500
Longmont, CO
39
14
56.8%
$130,000
Lafayette, CO
19
3
n/a
–
Places with at least 15 postings from 3 employers. Shading shows where median posted pay is higher. Pay figures need 8 postings with pay.
Posted pay by kind of job
Kind of job
Median posted pay
Postings with pay
Software developers
$140,000
11
Who is hiring, by industry
Industry
Postings
Software & Technology
112
Healthcare & Life Sciences
67
Consulting & Professional Services
28
Retail & E-commerce
21
Manufacturing & Industrial
17
Employers with the most openings
Coldquanta: 41 postings
Medtronic: 16 postings
Ionq: 15 postings
Careers Lynker: 12 postings
BranchLab: 11 postings
Federal government hiring
35 federal job announcements open to the public list Boulder, CO, with a median posted salary range midpoint of $114,000. Agencies hiring most: Federal Aviation Administration (17), Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (6), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (4), National Telecommunications and Information Administration (4), Office of the Secretary (3). Source: USAJOBS, 2026-10-10.
What your paycheck buys here
Prices in the Boulder, CO area run 5% above the national average, and housing runs 57% above it. The official median wage for all jobs is $69,500, which is worth $66,000 in average-US dollars. The median posted pay of $145,000 is worth $138,000.
Local prices compared with the national average, where 100 is the US average. Download this chart (SVG)Median wages for the ten occupations with the most workers here (worker count in parentheses). Download this chart (SVG)Which industries have the most open postings in our data. Download this chart (SVG)
A posting that lists several places counts once in the metro. Metro areas are the Census Bureau's 2023 definitions. This covers employers whose career pages we read, not every job in the area. Methodology · All metro areas (CSV)
