Jobs & Economy in Greeley
Greeley's economy runs through a genuinely large, real food-processing anchor (JBS USA's beef plant) and Weld County's dominant oil-and-gas sector, plus a real in-city university -- a meaningfully different, more industrially diversified employment profile than this dataset's other built Colorado cities.
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Learn moreJBS USA: a real, large-scale anchor employer, including a recent, disclosed labor dispute
JBS USA's Greeley beef-processing plant employs roughly 3,800 workers, processing 5,000-6,000 head of cattle daily and accounting for more than 6% of all US beef production -- a genuinely large, real anchor employer. In February-April 2026, almost 4,000 JBS workers went on strike (a rare event in the meatpacking industry), raising real, reported concerns about ripple effects on local small businesses; the United Food and Commercial Workers ended the roughly three-week strike in April 2026 after JBS agreed to a wage increase, and workers ratified a new contract.
Weld County's oil-and-gas sector is a real, large-scale economic presence
Weld County produced more than 80% of Colorado's oil and more than 50% of its natural gas in 2024, per industry-data aggregation -- making the oil-and-gas sector a real, sourced part of the immediate Greeley-area economy in a way no other Colorado city in this dataset shares at the same scale, reflecting roughly three decades of hydraulic-fracturing-driven growth in the county.
A real, if smaller-scale, in-city university adds a genuine higher-education employment dimension
The University of Northern Colorado, headquartered in Greeley, confirmed 8,869 total students for Fall 2024 (6,480 undergraduate, 2,389 graduate), with Fall 2025 enrollment cited as up 1.5% year-over-year -- a real, if meaningfully smaller-scale, higher-education anchor than CU Boulder or CSU-Fort Collins elsewhere in this dataset, but a genuine college-town dimension Loveland lacks entirely.
Key takeaways
- JBS USA's Greeley beef plant employs roughly 3,800 workers, processing 5,000-6,000 head of cattle daily and more than 6% of US beef production -- a real, large anchor employer that saw a disclosed February-April 2026 worker strike, resolved via a new contract.
- Weld County produced more than 80% of Colorado's oil and more than 50% of its natural gas in 2024 -- a real, large-scale economic presence unique to Greeley among this dataset's Colorado cities.
- The University of Northern Colorado (8,869 students, Fall 2024; up 1.5% for Fall 2025) is a real, if smaller-scale, in-city higher-education anchor.
- Greeley's employment base is genuinely more diversified across agriculture/food-processing, energy, and education than this dataset's other Colorado cities.
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