Colorado's 4% growth last year is also thanks to a fossil fuel boom that has spilled over into other industries.

Fracking at the Niobrara Formation in the northeastern part of the state has driven robust growth across sectors that include home construction and professional and business services like CPAs, according to Richard Wobbekind, executive director of the Business Research Division of the University of Colorado Boulder.

"Without that, I think we'd still be growing above the national number but not twice the national number," Wobbekind said.

It helps that the state's population has exploded, growing more than 15% since 2000, and the state has effectively put the newcomers to work.