Companies in Denver: 91,522 businesses, the city's biggest employers and the headquarters behind them

This page is for anyone trying to find or understand Denver companies: people hiring a local firm, job seekers, analysts and B2B sellers working the Front Range. It covers the Census count by county and industry, the employers the City and County of Denver lists as its largest, the biggest headquarters, the state and city records for checking a business, and a worked example in the metro's largest sector.

How many businesses are in the Denver area

That is 78,704 establishments with 1 to 19 employees, 10,570 with 20 to 99 and 2,248 with 100 or more. These are County Business Patterns figures for all sectors: they count each location with a payroll, so one company with ten offices counts ten times, and they leave out the self-employed. The figures are for 2023, with employment in mid-March.

Where the businesses are

Denver County has 30.0% of the metro's establishments and 34.5% of its jobs; Arapahoe, home to Centennial and much of the Denver Tech Center, has another 22.0%. Jefferson County has many establishments but small ones, 11.7 employees each, while Adams (18.3) and Broomfield (19.3) have the biggest workplaces on average.

What Denver-area businesses do

Average pay is our calculation from payroll. In Massachusetts and Oregon, retail or health care has the most establishments; in the Denver metro it's professional services. Software publishers are fewer (348 establishments) but pay $224,520 on average. The oil and gas line shows what Denver is in that industry: 166 offices with 3,347 people, most of them running wells in other states.

Denver's largest employers

The City and County of Denver ranks employers in its 2025 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report by the Occupational Privilege Tax they remit, a tax on people working in the city, so the counts are employees in Denver itself:

The ten employ 78,217 people, 12.0% of employment in the city. Two airlines are on the list because Denver International Airport is in the city: United's hub has nearly doubled its Denver workforce since 2016. None of the ten is a company headquartered in Denver; ADP TotalSource is a professional employer organization, which employs staff on behalf of client businesses.

The biggest companies headquartered around Denver

The Census data shows how rare these are: 84 establishments in the metro have 1,000 or more employees. Palantir, often listed as a Denver company, gives Aventura, Florida as its headquarters in its 2025 10-K. For the full ranking of 25, with headcounts and who's left out, see the largest companies in Denver.

Finding and checking a Denver company

To vet a local firm, confirm the entity is in good standing with the Secretary of State, check that it holds any license Denver requires for its trade at its address, and for regulated professions check the state licensing board too.

Prospecting Denver companies

Denver's largest sector is a seller's natural target: thousands of professional firms, most with 10 to 99 people, concentrated in two counties.

Illustrative example. The company, rates and results are fictional; the counts are from County Business Patterns.

Front Range Design Risk (frdesignrisk.example) brokers professional liability insurance for architecture and engineering firms.

1. Architecture, engineering and related services establishments (NAICS 5413) with 10 to 99 employees: Denver County 84 + 68 + 43 = 195; Arapahoe 44 + 43 + 13 = 100; Jefferson 64 + 45 + 15 = 124.
2. Total: 419 firms, before Douglas and Adams counties.
3. It assumes a third renew within any six-month window: about 140 live renewals to work each half year.
4. Winning one in ten of those is 14 new clients a half year, at an average premium it can quote.

It targets principals and chief operating officers, who sign off on coverage, and times outreach 90 to 120 days before policy renewal dates. Working out which of 419 firms are independent, which are branch offices of national firms that buy coverage at headquarters, and who the principal is, is the research Bebop does for each account.

Subject: [Firm]'s professional liability renewal

Hi [first name],

Design firms in Denver your size are seeing professional liability quotes move faster than revenue, especially on public and multifamily work.

We place coverage only for architects and engineers, and we start 120 days before renewal so you see options before the deadline. Could I send a short benchmark of what firms of [number] people are paying?

[Your name], Front Range Design Risk

Next step: see the statewide picture in businesses in Colorado.