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Aurora economy: Key decisions ahead after recent job gains
City officials must set priorities for sectors that added thousands of positions since 2017 while addressing a 6.8 percent unemployment rate.
How we reported this
Aurora holds a civilian labor force of 108,450 with a 72.2 percent participation rate, and health care leads employment with 10,322 workers.
Those figures come at a moment when the city has posted net job growth yet still tracks above the national unemployment average. Leaders now confront choices on whether to expand training pipelines tied to the largest employer or to spread support across retail and hospitality clusters that posted sharper percentage gains.
Job totals and wage patterns
Between 2017 and 2022 Aurora added more than 2,000 positions overall and created 5,771 jobs after the pandemic period, while retail trade expanded 62 percent. Median household income sits between $74,659 and $79,642, and the average annual wage per worker ranges from $64,388 to $64,925. These numbers set the baseline for any next round of workforce programs or site-selection incentives.
Health care already accounts for the single biggest block of employment. Any decision to channel additional public resources into that sector would compete with efforts to sustain the retail rebound or to keep tourism dollars flowing. The latter contributed $268 million to the local economy in 2022, supported 3,000 hospitality jobs, and generated $13 million in tax revenue.
Choices on support and measurement
The unemployment rate stands at 6.8 percent, above the 6.0 percent U.S. average, though the broader metro area recorded 4.1 percent in 2021. Officials weighing new initiatives will need to decide which data points-labor-force participation, sector-specific headcounts, or visitor spending-will guide budget allocations and partnership agreements in the coming cycle. Those choices will determine whether growth stays concentrated or spreads more evenly across existing employers.
Practical next steps include reviewing how current training funds align with the 10,322 health-care positions already on the books and whether retail and tourism operators can absorb additional workers without new infrastructure commitments. The evidence already on record shows measurable gains; the open question is which levers the city will pull to lock those gains in place.