February 15, 2024

Introduction

The chart below, inspired by the American Enterprise Institute’s “Chart of the Century,” displays changes in wages, inflation, and the prices of consumer goods and services in Colorado since the beginning of the 21st century. Wage growth has outpaced most durables and some nondurables making them more affordable; conversely, several of the largest household expenses including housing, health care, and higher education have outpaced wages, thereby crowding out more and more of every household dollar.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) produces historical price indices for select metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs). They currently do not produce statewide price indices. Therefore, all but three of the price levels included in this report are those in the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood MSA, not the state as a whole. Naturally, price growth within the Denver MSA level may not properly represent price changes in parts of Colorado outside the MSA.

Key Insights

• The price of tuition at a four-year public university rose more than any other item—by nearly 300% since 2002. This is more than 137percentage points more than that of the next closest item, housing.

• Prices of apparel, durables, and household furnishings have grown much slower than the total inflation rate, though the prices of apparel and household furnishings increased by 5 and 2 percentage points, respectively, in 2023.

• 10 of the 14 items experienced their highest price increases within the last three years of our captured time frame (2002–2023).

Changes since the 2023 Release

Gasoline prices decreased sharply by 6% in 2023 after growing rapidly over the past two years, 42% in 2021 and 20% in 2022.

• The price of housing decreased 2% in 2023 after rapid increases of 15% in both 2021 and 2022. This is the first decrease in housing prices since 2011.

• The price of medical care grew by 0.4%—its lowest single-year amount since 2003.

• Down from 10 areas in 2022, 6 of the 14 areas experienced price growth rates higher than that of average weekly wages which grew 4%.

• Both recreation and food and beverage experienced a price increase of 6%. This is recreation’s highest price increase in our captured time frame and food and beverage’s second–highest price increase.

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