I live near a cute small town in Colorado, called Niwot, population ~4300. I told you it was small! By comparison, other towns nearby range in population from just over 20,000 residents to just over 100,000. Now, while the median home price in nearby Boulder, Colorado is $965,000, the median home price in Niwot is a staggering $1,335,000. Yeah. Nice house; I’ll take two.
Niwot inhabits part of unincorporated Boulder County. Now, a couple years ago, the wise Boulder County Commissioners realized that home and rental prices as well as the cost of living in general were vastly outpacing wages in the county. This was specifically effecting the lowest paid workers in the county. It’s a beautiful area to live in…if you can afford it. So, in December 2023, the Commissioners unanimously agreed to increase the county’s minimum wage incrementally each year until it reached $25 per hour in 2030. This increase was effective on January 1, 2024 with an initial minimum wage of $15.69. By comparison, the state minimum wage is set at $14.81. The city of Denver, with a much lower median home price of ~$583,000, has a minimum wage of $18.81 while, as of this writing, the City of Boulder holds its minimum wage at $15.57.
The minimum wage for Niwot is currently $16.57 for 2025. This wage will now increase at a rate of 8.58% per year until it reaches the targeted $25 per hour in 2030. After this, the county minimum wage will keep pace with the consumer price index (CPI) for the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood area. This is the same calculation that the state uses for its annual minimum wage increase. Contrast this to the LAST TIME the federal government raised the minimum wage. That was in 2007–18 YEARS ago. That wage remains at the same rate of $7.25 per hour.
Due to the lack of action on the part of the federal government, the State of Colorado voters in 2006 passed an incremental increase to the state minimum wage that is tied to the state’s consumer price index. Boulder County is playing catch-up with where a living wage SHOULD BE for this area. It’s as simple as that. Many states that people really want to live in are doing the same.
After businesses enjoyed paying next to nothing to employees for, well, 18 years, NOW they are crying about having to pay a living wage in Niwot. They’ve even started a postcard-writing campaign to complain to the Commissioners and have posted signs in many willing business’s windows. Fortunately, not all businesses are going along with this ill-conceived campaign. But I’ve seen too many shops sporting signs like “Save Our Small Business”, “Help Niwot Survive”, and “Higher Wages/Fewer Farms”. Because when you are doing some of the most backbreaking work there is, you should get only shit wages?
I think this whole campaign is simply misguided. The increased wages are the right thing to do for the working-class folks who stock and bag your groceries, serve you your bougie coffee drinks, and run your restaurants, bars, and retail shops. Whining about the fact that your cost of doing business is higher than a neighboring town isn’t helpful to anyone. Because that is what wages are. A cost of doing business. When your costs increase as a business owner, you necessarily raise your prices. This may come as a shocker to some, but it happens ALL THE TIME.
One of the most common cost-of-doing-business expenses are property leasing increases, whether that’s base rent or most especially NNN (Triple Net), which goes up most years. Triple net is over and above the base costs of rent and utilities. It’s the proportional cost of property taxes, insurance, and maintenance for the building, property common areas, etc. And as a former business owner, I can assure you that this expense is far more of an impact than a small increase in wages every year.
But even there, some of the Niwot argument falls flat. The business association in Niwot complains about the unfairness of having a current higher minimum wage than the City of Boulder, but the retail space costs in the city versus the county are, on average, $5 or more per square foot higher that what Niwot sees. Not to mention that within the city there are higher taxes than what is paid in unincorporated Boulder County. So their comparison is not apples to apples by any means.
What’s the bottom line? Well, I’ve spoken to a number of hourly wage employees in Niwot. Consensus is that the county is doing the right thing by increasing the minimum wage. Most employees in Niwot cannot afford to live in town. Most have to commute at 15-30 minutes to get to work from another community. I have been pleased to see a handful of Niwot businesses shun this stupid anti-living wage campaign by refusing to put up signs or offer postcards. Best of all, those shops pay their employees a decent wage. Not surprisingly, THOSE stores will continue to get my business. The others? Naw. I’ll continue to avoid any of the businesses bitching about paying decent wages.