Colorado....going down the drain. The report card from @DenverGazette • Economy : Long ranked among the top five states for economic performance, Colorado dropped to the bottom 10 by 2024. • Income: Personal income growth fell from third in the country to 39th between 2018 and 2024, despite some of the world's highest minimum wage mandates. • Housing: Colorado ranks among the five least-affordable states for housing. • Regulation: The state ranks as the sixth-most regulated in the U.S., corresponding with slower business growth and innovation. • Inflation: Colorado experienced some of the highest inflation rates in the country by 2025, outpacing national averages, with consumer prices 15.4% higher today than in 2021. • Energy: Beginning with Senate Bill-181 (2019), Colorado has obstructed energy production - a major Colorado export - at an expense of the state's economy and high-wage blue-collar jobs. In all, multiple new regulations since 2018 have Colorado producing less oil and gas in 2025 than in 2019, as the country's production has increased. • Commercial real estate: Under House Bill 1286 (2021), commercial buildings over 50,000 square feet must meet strict greenhouse gas reduction targets (7% by 2026, 20% by 2030 from 2021 levels). Owners face compliance costs for retrofits or electrification, rendering Colorado less attractive to future businesses while oppressing their legacy counterparts. • Unemployment: Country's second-highest unemployment rate in March - 4.8% - compared with 2017, when Colorado tied for the country's second-lowest unemployment rate at 2.7%. • Job growth: Colorado's year-over-year job-growth rate of 0.17% from March 2024-March 2025 compares to the national rate of 1.2% - landing Colorado 43rd in the country for job growth. Colorado's job-growth rate was 2.4% in 2017. • Crime : Crime rates surged post-2018, with Colorado's average monthly crime rate exceeding 475 per 100,000 residents in 2023, compared to a nationwide rate of 374.4 per 100,000. • Test scores: Post-pandemic data from 2020-2021 Colorado Measures of Academic Success (CMAS) scores showed math performance dropping to only 27.4% meeting expectations (from 32.7% pre-pandemic) and literacy falling to 43% (from 44.5%). • Achievement gaps: Achievement gaps for minority, poor, and special education students remain stubborn, with post-2020 data showing regression. • Exodus: Colorado fell from a top 10 state for in-migration to the bottom 10 by 2025. • Homelessness: The number of people living without homes has increased, with urban areas across the Denver-Boulder-Aurora-Lakewood MSA facing visible crises. • Drugs: Overdose deaths rose from 17.4 for every 100,000 residents in 2018 to 30.0 for every 100,000 residents in 2023 (latest available data) - a 72.4% increase - corresponding with decriminalization of all illicit drugs. Colorado has the country's second-highest rate of teen fentanyl overdose deaths. • Public approval: The 2024 Colorado Political Climate Survey shows only 33% rate the economy positively, with partisan divides (52% Democrats versus 16% Republicans), based on data compiled by the University of Colorado-Boulder. • Birth rates: The crude birth rate, measuring births per 1,000 population, has been in decline in correlation with Colorado's rising crime rate and the state's reduction in various livability factors. • Fertility Rates: The general fertility rate, measuring births per 1,000 women ages 15-44, has declined. GFR dropped to 50.2 in 2023 from 58.7 in 2010, giving Colorado the country's highest fertility reduction. The total fertility rate, which estimates lifetime births per 100,000 women, was 1.48 in 2020 - sixth lowest in the U.S. and below the replacement level of 2.1. • Abortion rate: The Colorado Department of Health and Environment reports abortions increased from 8,873 in 2017 to 14,691 in 2023 (latest available) - a 65.5% increase.