MEEKER | While the numbers for Rio Blanco County’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) have suffered due to large losses in oil and gas output since 2020, other factors remain fairly constant, including employment, median household income, and inflationary pressure, according to an economic update for the first quarter of 2023 prepared by Dr. Nathan Perry, associate professor of economics at Colorado Mesa University, and funded by Associated Governments of Northwest Colorado (AGNC).
Rio Blanco County “…had the worst GDP number on the Western Slope due to its high reliance on energy, as approximately 70% of the county’s GDP is energy related.”
In better news, sales/use tax revenue for Meeker increased 6.58% from 2021 to 2022 for Meeker, 14.88% for Rangely, and 47.93% for Rio Blanco County and new business filings increased from 92 in 2021 to 105 in 2022. And median household income for Rio Blanco County residents increased slightly from 2020 to 2021, from $64,039 to $65,334. Median household income has been rising slowly since 2017. Poverty levels have remained fairly consistent, around 10%, since 2011.
The county’s most recent unemployment rate as of April 2023 was estimated at 2.3%. According to Perry’s report, “Most economists are expecting a national economic slowdown and even recession. Usually this causes unemployment to spike. But one of the reasons that unemployment is so low is because of demographic issues, including millions of people (baby boomers) leaving the labor force during COVID-19. How a recession looks with such a demographically tight labor market will be interesting to see, and may mitigate much of the damage of a normal economic downturn.”
The county’s real estate market is as tight as the employment situation, with fewer homes for sale and residential listings in 2023 compared to the same quarter in 2022. The average sales price is up 3.67% from Q1 2022, with the average sales price at $239,747.
View the complete report below.
RBC-Economic-Update-Q1-2023
