Colorado · NAICS 722 · Annual, 2025
Food Services and Drinking Places in Colorado
Employment, establishments and average pay for NAICS 722 in Colorado, 2004–2025, from DTG's QCEW-based estimates.
In 2025, Food Services and Drinking Places (NAICS 722) employed about 238,300 people in Colorado across roughly 13,040 establishments, with average annual pay of $32,570.
Employment in Food Services and Drinking Places in Colorado grew 23.6% from 2020 to 2025. Average pay in the industry is 61.3% below the all-industries average in Colorado. Quarterly values, full industry detail and projections to 2036 for Colorado are included with a free account. County-level detail is part of every paid plan, or one county free for seven days.
- 238,300Employment, 2025
- 13,040Establishments
- $32,570Avg. annual pay
- 8.2%Share of Colorado jobs
- 1.05Location quotient
Employment, 2004 to 2025
Annual average · all ownerships
Annual employment, 2004–2025: 2004 170,300; 2005 174,700; 2006 180,100; 2007 184,400; 2008 185,300; 2009 178,200; 2010 178,800; 2011 185,200; 2012 191,400; 2013 199,400; 2014 207,500; 2015 217,300; 2016 225,200; 2017 230,600; 2018 234,600; 2019 236,800; 2020 192,800; 2021 217,200; 2022 237,200; 2023 243,700; 2024 241,700; 2025 238,300.
Last ten years
Annual · 10 years
| Year | Employment | Estab. | Avg. annual pay | Change | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 238,283 | 13,040 | $32,574 | 1.4% | pub. |
| 2024 | 241,672 | 13,143 | $31,534 | 0.8% | pub. |
| 2023 | 243,731 | 13,383 | $30,631 | 2.8% | pub. |
| 2022 | 237,150 | 12,844 | $29,224 | 9.2% | pub. |
| 2021 | 217,169 | 12,590 | $26,968 | 12.6% | pub. |
| 2020 | 192,833 | 12,366 | $23,968 | 18.6% | pub. |
| 2019 | 236,822 | 12,216 | $23,035 | 0.9% | pub. |
| 2018 | 234,613 | 12,002 | $21,738 | 1.7% | pub. |
| 2017 | 230,599 | 11,805 | $20,472 | 2.4% | pub. |
| 2016 | 225,242 | 11,535 | $19,314 | 3.7% | pub. |
† Not disclosed in QCEW; DTG estimate.
The full history from 2004 and quarterly values are available with a free account.
Where these numbers come from
Reading these figures
The figures on this page come from one named vintage, stated below, and are annual values for all ownerships combined. Where QCEW withheld a value, the marked figure is an estimate that DTG produced under the constraints of the published record; suppression is a property of QCEW, not of DTG, and a withheld value is marked rather than silently omitted. Two things DTG itself holds back, and says so where it does: an estimate that cannot be given a reliability score is not shown, and average pay is not shown where fewer than three jobs are reported. The row is marked withheld, with the reason in a note beneath the table. The mark is on every row that carries a value: the headline, the yearly history, the subsectors and the other states. An estimated value that rounds below one is shown as less than one, not as zero. Quarterly figures, county figures and projected years are in the app.
How this figure was built
Employment is the average of the three monthly counts in each quarter, averaged across the year, and establishments are averaged across the year the same way. Average annual pay is the year’s total wages divided by that average employment. Each of these is DTG’s value: QCEW’s published figure where QCEW disclosed it, and DTG’s estimate, marked, where it did not. How withheld values are estimated, and what the reliability score beside a figure means, are described on the industry data and disclosure and provenance pages.
Notes
Data Tactical Group is an independent company and is not affiliated with or endorsed by any federal agency.
Food Services and Drinking Places in Colorado, quarterly, at full depth
This page shows annual figures for food services and drinking places in Colorado. A free account shows every detailed industry beneath it, quarterly, for every state, with projections to ten years. No card.
County figures, file export and the API are on paid plans.