Metro Denver: Mile High Advantages
Health & Wellness
When you move your company here, be sure to pack your hiking boots.
It’s no secret Metro Denver is positively preoccupied with staying fit and healthy. Attribute it to our 300+ days of spectacular sunshine, our exceptionally mild climate, or the Rocky Mountains in our back yard. The fact is Metro Denver has a balanced lifestyle where health, family, and career complement one another.
The region’s outstanding quality of life translates into a productive workforce that experiences less absenteeism and places fewer demands on the healthcare system. Colorado has the nation’s lowest rate of obesity and is among the five lowest states for heart disease, diabetes, and cancer rates.
While no state is immune to rising obesity rates, we’re curbing the gradual expansion of our waistlines by re-adjusting our culture. Under the leadership of the Metro Denver Health and Wellness Commission, Metro Denver is aiming to become “America’s Healthiest Community” by instituting strategies that support worksite wellness, school policy, and the creation of interlinked, walkable communities.
- Denver has the highest rates of health club membership in the nation with 25.1% of residents enrolled
- 2007 Health Club Industry Review
- Denver ranks in the top five cities for walkability according to a study by the Brookings Institute
- Denver ranks in the top five cities in America for its "Urban Life" in a 2007 Men’s Journal survey of 50 "best places" to live
- Boulder made the 2007 Men's Journal list of the top five "Healthiest Places"
A workforce that's fit for business.
Ski or snowmobile? Bike or hike? Golf or garden? Camp or kayak? In Colorado, you can choose from these and many more outdoor adventures nearly every day of the year. No wonder our residents are among the healthiest in the nation.
- Colorado is the nation's thinnest state, with an adult obesity rate of 17.6%.
- According to the Kaiser Family Foundation's State Health Facts, Colorado ranks third lowest for heart disease and diabetes and fifth lowest for cancer incidence.
- Colorado residents rank second for participation in physical activities and fill the fifth fewest drug prescriptions per capita, according to State Health Facts.
Healthier people are more energetic. Healthier students learn better. Healthier families are happier. And a healthier workforce is more productive and reduces employer healthcare costs.
Learn more about Colorado’s health statistics.
Expanding our competitive edge when it comes to health.
No question Metro Denver has the edge on a healthy quality of life – and we aim to keep it that way. We're also known for our regionalism – the ability of government entities, businesses, and other organizations to put the greater good ahead of individual interests. These two strengths have come together in the form of the Metro Denver Health and Wellness Commission, created to maintain and expand the region's position as "America's Healthiest Community."
In 2006, the Metro Denver EDC helped form the Metro Denver Health and Wellness Commission. The Commission, co-chaired by Colorado Lt. Governor Barbara O'Brien, is encouraging cultural change to reduce Metro Denver's obesity rate by promoting programs that improve physical, environmental, and mental health. Its strategies touch every part of our lives, including our homes, schools, workplace, and communities.
And in mid-2007, the Commission released its first benchmark report, Metro Denver 2007: A Report on the Health & Wellness of Our Community, which showed that Metro Denver residents have the best average health ranking among 25 comparable cities.
- America On the Move's pilot program, Colorado On the Move, demonstrated that citizens can stop weight gain by balancing energy expenditure and calorie consumption.
- Denver was profiled in Cooking Light's Best Cities series for its philosophy of eating smart, being fit, and living well.
Healthy employees = healthy companies.
By promoting their workers' health, employers can boost their bottom line. Metro Denver companies know that a healthy workforce can help restrain spiraling healthcare costs. That's why a growing number of Metro Denver businesses offer free medical screenings, discounts or cash incentives to encourage exercise, fitness facilities, and smoking cessation.
To aide efforts already in place at the region's companies, the Metro Denver Health and Wellness Commission is developing worksite initiatives to:
- Identify and quantify the impact of rising healthcare costs on our regional economy and the economic benefit of decreasing those costs
- Strengthen and expand the region's economic development cluster of health- and wellness-related services and industry
- Develop community outreach on the importance of healthy eating and active living, and promote Metro Denver nationally as the leader in health and wellness
- Create comprehensive, evidence-based worksite wellness programs adopted by all employers with 100 or more employees by 2012