All the reasons to live in Pueblo

TRANSPORTATION

Pueblo offers multiple options for shipping and receiving products and raw materials as well as for business and personal travel.

The city is served by Interstate Highway 25 which runs north and south from the Wyoming border on the north to the New Mexico border on the south. I-25 links Pueblo with other major business and industrial centers including Ft. Collins, Denver and Colorado Springs.

Highway 50 is Pueblo’s primary east /west highway which links the city with the southeastern and western parts of the state.

Numerous truck lines and national delivery companies serve the city’s business community.

Two major railroads provide freight service for local businesses including the Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Union Pacific-Southern Pacific.

Great Lakes Airlines offers residents and visitors regularly scheduled flights to and from Denver from Pueblo Memorial Airport. More than a half dozen major airlines serve Colorado Springs Municipal Airport just 40 minutes away with flights to multiple U.S. destinations. Less than two hours away is Denver International Airport with numerous national and international airlines flying routes throughout the country and the world.

WORKFORCE

Pueblo has a workforce that supports many different industries with employees having a wide range of skill sets. Employers in Pueblo are able to staff their facilities with competent, loyal, and hard working individuals. Today, local companies utilize the services of employees in capacities ranging from manual labor to PhD engineers and research scientists. The local community college and university are strong forces in developing the vocational and professional elements of our workforce.

Click on About PEDCO to find a link to the Databook. This book provides more details on Pueblo and our workforce.

AVAILABLE PROPERTIES

Pueblo has several properties available for economic development. The inventory includes vacant land, existing buildings, shell buildings that are build-to-suit and even an airport hangar. For an example of the properties, click the Sample Properties link on this page. Contact PEDCO to begin to turn your dream into reality.

INCENTIVES

PEDCO has access to several incentives available for companies that relocate to Pueblo, CO. A detailed description of the incentives can be found by clicking on the Incentives link on the left side of this page. Puebloans are so dedicated to attracting new businesses to Pueblo that they imposed a ½ cent sales tax on themselves for economic development. This is the type of pro-business attitude found in Pueblo. Come to Pueblo and experience the warm welcome for yourself!

CENTRAL LOCATION

Pueblo's location has many benefits for operating a business. Geographically Pueblo is located centrally in the U.S. - two days by truck or two hours by plane to Chicago, St Louis, and most of the West Coast. Interstate 25 and U.S. Highway 50 intersect in the City, providing excellent auto and truck routes in all directions. Additionally, Pueblo is a major rail center providing transportation linkages throughout the country.

Our small city combines the ease of commuting, shopping, and just getting around, with its close proximity to metro Denver, ninety minutes to the North. For outdoor recreation Pueblo is within a short drive to a seemingly endless number of beautiful mountain areas to enjoy for a few hours or a few days.

Click on About PEDCO to find a link to the Databook. This book provides more details on Pueblo and our central location within the U.S.

UTILITIES

Pueblo boasts low-cost energy and utility services, the result of well-managed operations like Black Hills, Xcel Energy, and San Isabel Electric Association. Pueblo's mild climate helps hold energy costs to a relative minimum. With more than 300 days of sunshine annually, the potential exists for utilizing passive or active solar energy. Pueblo also has an abundant supply of water to meet your business needs. The Pueblo Board Of Water Works is ready to assist in meeting any water requirements. The cooperative nature between Pueblo’s governmental agencies and public utility companies can meet the special energy and utility requirements of new businesses and industries. Whatever your energy needs, Pueblo has enough to meet your demands.

Click on About PEDCO to find a link to the Databook for detailed cost information on utilities in Pueblo, CO.

CONNECTIVITY

Fiber Optics are abundant in Pueblo. There are redundant fiber rings throughout the city available for use. Terminal equipment can accommodate a large volume of high-speed traffic and connect to any location via long haul fiber routes and/or POPs. Several companies that sell bandwidth include Qwest, Comcast and Unite Private Networks. PEDCO Foundation manages a 12,000 square foot data center located in downtown Pueblo that is available to any company needing off-site data storage. Single racks in the data center can be leased from Unite Private Networks. For more information, contact Margaret Gaillard at mgaillard@pedco.org.

CONSTRUCTION COSTS

Pueblo's building costs have always been among the lowest in America, largely because the weather allows construction to go on year-round. Pueblo’s cost-of-construction index is lower than the national average at 92.6 ($141.54/sq ft). Often, buildings are constructed for less than $125 per square foot depending on the nature of the business. For a detailed comparison of construction costs from Kansas City to San Francisco, click on About PEDCO to find a link to the Databook.

EDUCATION AND TRAINING

One of Pueblo’s strongest assets is education and training. Companies will find numerous resources for task and-skill specific training as well as leadership courses for new workers hired during a start up phase as well as ongoing programs to provide training for both new hires and current employees.

Two of the most prominent resources are the Economic & Workforce Development Division (EWDD) at Pueblo Community College as well as Colorado State University / Pueblo. The EWDD’s training staff, equipment and facilities have been marshaled to develop customized training class room and on-site training courses for many companies

Colorado State University / Pueblo offers the educational strengths of a large and growing university to meet the corporate education needs of businesses and the individual education goals of those living in the community.

In addition, there are several leading career colleges in Pueblo offering specialized curriculums to enable residents to enhance their employable skills.

HOTEL AND MEETING FACILITIES

Companies bringing visitors to Pueblo will find a variety of hotel choices throughout the city offering more than 2,000 hotel rooms.

Off site meeting facilities within the hotels, at local restaurants as well as at the Pueblo Convention Center, the Sangre de Cristo Arts and Conference Center, the campuses of Pueblo Community College and Colorado State University / Pueblo and the numerous facilities on the Colorado State Fair Grounds offer space for meetings, dinners and special events for a dozen to a several hundred persons as well as facilities for much larger gatherings attracting several thousand people.

ATHLETICS

Pueblo offers a broad range of sports options for participants and fans alike. There are numerous junior baseball, softball, basketball, football, soccer, swimming, tennis and golf programs for young athletes. The area’s six public high schools offer a full range of competitive athletic programs. Student athletes living in School District 60 which administers all of the schools within the city can attend any of the four city high schools regardless of where in the city boundaries they live. There are eligibility requirements governing sports participation after changing schools. High school athletes living in Pueblo County School District # 70 have a choice of attending either of the District’s two high schools.

Fourteen different athletic teams carry the colors of the Colorado State University / Pueblo, Thunderwolves into competition in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. Men’s sports include football, basketball, baseball, wrestling, golf, tennis and soccer. Women’s teams compete in softball, basketball, cross country, soccer, golf, tennis volleyball and track. The campus is home to some of the best athletic facilities in the country including the new,10,000 fan capacity Neta and Eddie DeRose football stadium opened in the fall of 2008 to welcome the return of college football to the campus. The school’s basketball teams, volley ball team and wrestling team compete in the recently remodeled Massari arena.

For avid college sports fans, the United States Air Force Academy and Colorado College are located in Colorado Springs just a 40 minute drive north of Pueblo while a 90 minute drive enables fans to attend the Broncos (NFL), Rockies,(MLB) Nuggets (NBA) and Avalanche (NHL) games in Denver.

Fans of western sports also have an opportunity to attend professional rodeos and bull riding events during the year. Pueblo is home to the Professional Bull Riders, Inc., the fastest growing extreme sport in the country. The community also has two motor sports tracks which hold races in the summer.

Click here to download a statistcal analysis of the Pueblo living area