Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States

🇺🇸 Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County. Colorado Springs is the second-most populous city and the most extensive city in the state of Colorado, and the 40th most populous city in the United States. It is the principal city of the Colorado Springs, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area and the second-most prominent city of the Front Range Urban Corridor. It is located in east-central Colorado, on Fountain Creek, 70 miles (113 km) south of Denver.

At 6,035 feet (1,839 m) the city stands over 1 mile (1.6 km) above sea level, though some areas are significantly higher and lower. Colorado Springs is near the base of Pikes Peak, which rises 14,115 feet (4,302.31 m) above sea level on the eastern edge of the Southern Rocky Mountains.

Economy Colorado Springs's economy is driven primarily by the military, the high-tech industry, and tourism, in that order. The city is experiencing growth in the service sectors. Its unemployment rate as of June 2022 was 3.5%, a decrease from 6.5% in June 2021. In June 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, the unemployment rate was 3.3%. The state's unemployment rate in June 2022 was 3.4% compared to 3.6% for the nation.

Military As of 2021, there are nearly 45,000 active-duty troops in Colorado Springs. There are more than 100,000 veterans and thousands of reservists. The military and defense contractors supply more than 40% of the Pikes Peak region's economy.

Colorado Springs is home to the Peterson Space Force Base, Schriever Space Force Base, Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station, U.S. Space Command, and Space Operations Command— the largest contingent of space service military installations. They are responsible for intelligence gathering, space operations, and cyber missions.

Peterson Space Force Base is responsible for the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and the United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) headquarters, Space Operations Command, and Space Deltas 2, 3, and 7. Located at Peterson is the 302nd Airlift Wing, an Air Force Reserve unit, that transports passengers and cargo and fights wildfires.

Schriever Space Force Base is responsible for Joint Task Force-Space Defense and Space Deltas 6, 8, and 9. The NORAD and USNORTHCOM Alternate Command Center is located at the Cheyenne Mountain Complex. Within the mountain complex, the Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station has been operated by Space Operations Command. On January 13, 2021, the Air Force announced a new permanent home for Space Command, moving it from Colorado Springs to Huntsville, Alabama in 2026, but the decision could be reversed by Congress.

Defense industry The defense industry forms a significant part of the Colorado Springs economy, with some of the city's largest employers being defense contractors. Some defense corporations have left or downsized city campuses, but slight growth has been recorded. Significant defense corporations in the city include Northrop Grumman, Boeing, General Dynamics, L3Harris Technologies, SAIC, ITT, Lockheed Martin, and Bluestaq. The Space Foundation is based in Colorado Springs.

High-tech industry A large percentage of Colorado Springs's economy is still based on manufacturing high-tech and complex electronic equipment. The high-tech sector in the Colorado Springs area has decreased its overall presence from 2000 to 2006 (from around 21,000 to around 8,000), with notable reductions in information technology and complex electronic equipment. Current trends project the high-tech employment ratio will continue to decrease.

High-tech corporations with connections to the city include: Verizon Business, a telecommunications firm, at its height had nearly 1300 employees in 2008. Hewlett-Packard still has some sales, support, and SAN storage engineering centre for the computer industry. Storage Networking Industry Association is the home of the SNIA Technology Center. Keysight Technologies, spun off in 2014 from Agilent, which was itself spun off from HP in 1999 as an independent, publicly traded company, has its oscilloscope research and development division based in Colorado Springs. Intel had 250 employees in 2009. The Intel facility is now used for the centralized unemployment offices, social services, El Paso county offices, and a bitcoin mining facility. Microchip Technology (formerly Atmel), is a chip fabrication organization. The Apple Inc. facility was sold to Sanmina-SCI in 1996.

Breweries In 2017, Colorado had the third-most craft breweries at 348. Breweries and microbreweries have become popular in Colorado Springs, which hosts over 30 of them.

Higher education State institutions offering bachelors and graduate degree programs in Colorado Springs include University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS) with more than 12,000 students, and, Pikes Peak State College which offers mostly two-year degree associate degrees. The United States Air Force Academy is a federal institution offering bachelor degrees for officer candidates.

Private non-profit institutions include Colorado College established in 1874 with about 2,000 undergraduates. Colorado Christian University has its Colorado Springs Center in the city.

Private for-profit institutions include Colorado Technical University whose main campus is in Colorado Springs and IntelliTec College a technical training school.