Mesa County 2026 Edition

About 17.6% of jobs in Mesa County are in occupations with high overlap with current AI capabilities; the county's overall exposure score of 28.6 ranks 38th of Colorado's 64 counties.

Exposure score: 28.6 0–100 scale, employment-weighted
Rank: 38th of 64 Colorado counties
UI-covered jobs: 66,883 2025 annual average
High-exposure share: 17.6% of jobs, score ≥ 50

Where AI lands first

The five occupation groups with the highest mean exposure scores in Mesa County, with each group's estimated share of county jobs. Scores are on the same 0–100 scale as the county score.

Most-exposed occupation groups in Mesa County
Occupation group	Estimated jobs	Share of county jobs	Mean exposure score
Computer and Mathematical Occupations	1,196	1.8%	55.3
Office and Administrative Support Occupations	7,432	11.1%	52.3
Business and Financial Operations Occupations	3,183	4.8%	52.3
Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations	429	0.6%	48.4
Legal Occupations	354	0.5%	45.9

Where AI lands last

The five largest occupation groups among the lower-exposure half of Mesa County's job base — the biggest kinds of local work least overlapping current AI capabilities.

Largest low-exposure occupation groups in Mesa County
Occupation group	Estimated jobs	Share of county jobs	Mean exposure score
Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations	6,693	10.0%	13.8
Transportation and Material Moving Occupations	6,093	9.1%	14.1
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	5,682	8.5%	30.5
Construction and Extraction Occupations	4,279	6.4%	8.3
Healthcare Support Occupations	4,166	6.2%	13.0

Jobs versus payroll

Measured by payroll rather than headcount, high-exposure work is a larger share of Mesa County's economy — exposure here skews toward higher-wage occupations.

Share of Mesa County's jobs, and of its estimated payroll, in high-exposure occupations (score ≥ 50). Dashed marks show the statewide shares.

High-exposure share of jobs versus payroll, Mesa County and Colorado
Measure	Mesa County	Colorado
Share of jobs in high-exposure occupations	17.6%	23.1%
Share of payroll in high-exposure occupations	20.2%	26.9%

How Mesa County compares

Each gray tick is one of Colorado's 64 counties. Mesa County scores 28.6, ranking 38th of 64; the median county scores 28.9.

Mesa County exposure score in state context
Mesa County score	28.6
Rank among 64 counties	38th
Median county score	28.9
Lowest county score	24.7
Highest county score	35.2

Reading these numbers

Partially imputed estimate 13.6% of Mesa County's employment sits in industry cells that federal data suppresses for confidentiality; those cells were estimated by imputation before scoring. Treat this county's figures as approximate estimates.

Exposure is not a job-loss forecast. The score measures how much the tasks that make up a county's jobs overlap with what current AI systems can do. High exposure can mean augmentation, automation, or neither — it marks where change is likely to arrive first, not how it will land.

County occupation mixes are estimated from each county's industry mix using national staffing patterns, not observed directly. Employment counts cover jobs in the unemployment-insurance system ("UI-covered employment"), which excludes most self-employment, gig work, and some farm work.

Employment data 2025 (BLS QCEW annual averages) · Occupation exposure scores: Eloundou et al. (2023), human-rated β · 2026 edition · Full methodology

Cite this page

Colorado AI Exposure Atlas

Martin, Christopher. “AI Job Exposure in Mesa County, Colorado.” Colorado AI Exposure Atlas, 2026 edition. https://coloradoaiexposureatlas.com/county/mesa/.

2026 Edition · Employment data 2025 · Compiled by Christopher Martin

Download Mesa County's data (JSON) — every number on this page, CC BY 4.0. Statewide files on the data page.