COLORADO PAYCHECK CALCULATOR
Quick answer: On a $70,000 salary in Colorado, filing Single, you take home roughly $55,395 per year, which works out to about $2,131 per paycheck if you’re paid biweekly.
Colorado uses a flat income tax, currently 4.40% for everyone, no matter how much you earn. There are no brackets to climb and no city adding its own bite on top.
Colorado’s tax personality is pretty easygoing compared to most of the country. One rate applies to everyone, from a barista in Boulder to an oil and gas executive in Denver, and that rate has actually gone down four times since the flat tax began in 1987. It started at 5%, dropped in stages through the late 90s and 2000s, and voters cut it again in 2020 and 2022, landing on today’s 4.40%. On top of that, the state’s TABOR law forces surplus revenue back to taxpayers, which occasionally pushes the effective rate even lower for a single tax year. Compared with its Mountain West neighbors, Colorado sits in the middle of the pack: cheaper than Utah on income tax, more expensive than Arizona, and nowhere near as simple as income-tax-free Wyoming.
What actually comes off a Colorado paycheck is a short list: federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare, the flat 4.40% state tax, and a small FAMLI paid leave premium that most other states don’t have. There’s no city or county income tax anywhere in Colorado, which is unusual for a state with a major metro like Denver. If you’re weighing Colorado against a move, it’s worth comparing it to Utah, Arizona, Wyoming, or New Mexico, all of which handle income tax very differently.
Colorado Paycheck Calculator
A Worked Example: $70,000, Single, in 2026
Take a single filer earning $70,000 a year. The federal standard deduction for a single filer in 2026 is $16,100, which brings taxable income down to $53,900. That amount moves through three brackets before it’s done:
- 10% on the first $12,400 = $1,240
- 12% on the next $38,000 (up to $50,400) = $4,560
- 22% on the remaining $3,500 = $770
Add those three pieces up and the federal tax bill lands at $6,570, an effective rate of about 12.2% on taxable income, even though the top marginal bracket touched is 22%. That’s the whole point of a progressive system: only the last slice of income gets taxed at the higher rate, not the entire paycheck.
Colorado vs. Its Neighbors at $70,000 (Single)
Federal tax, Social Security, and Medicare are the same everywhere since those are federal. What changes is the state line. Utah and New Mexico figures below are approximate since both states apply credits or bracket structures beyond a single flat rate.
| State | Income Tax Structure | State Tax Owed | Approx. Net Pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colorado | Flat 4.40% | $2,372 | $55,395 |
| Wyoming | No state income tax | $0 | $58,075 |
| Arizona | Flat 2.50% | $1,348 | $56,728 |
| Utah | Flat 4.45% (approx.) | ~$2,399 | ~$55,676 |
| New Mexico | Progressive 1.5% to 5.9% (approx.) | ~$1,950 | ~$56,125 |
Where Your Paycheck Money Actually Goes
Picture that same $70,000 salary landing as a biweekly paycheck of about $2,692 before anything is taken out. The first bite is federal income tax, which averages out to roughly $253 per paycheck once you spread the $6,570 annual bill across 26 pay periods. Next comes Social Security, a flat 6.2% that takes about $167 every time. Medicare follows at 1.45%, a smaller $39 per check. Then Colorado’s own flat 4.40% state tax steps in for around $91 per paycheck. Last is the newest deduction on the list: Colorado’s FAMLI premium, just 0.44% of wages, which comes out to roughly $12 per check. Once all five of those are subtracted, what lands in the bank is about $2,131 per paycheck, or $55,395 across the year.
How Colorado’s Flat Tax Got to 4.40%
Colorado switched to a flat income tax back in 1987, and it started at a flat 5%. Since then, the rate has only moved in one direction: down.
| Year | Rate | What Changed |
|---|---|---|
| 1987 | 5.00% | Colorado adopts a flat income tax |
| 1999 | 4.75% | Legislative rate cut |
| 2000 | 4.63% | Legislative rate cut |
| 2020 | 4.55% | Voters approve Proposition 116 |
| 2023 | 4.40% | Voters approve Proposition 121 (passed 2022) |
| 2024 | 4.25% (temporary) | TABOR surplus refund mechanism under SB24-228, for that tax year only |
The reason the rate sometimes dips below 4.40% comes down to Colorado’s Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, better known as TABOR. It caps how much revenue the state can keep, and when collections run over that cap in a strong year, the surplus has to go back to taxpayers. One of the mechanisms for doing that is a one-year cut to the income tax rate. So while 4.40% is the number written into statute, your actual bill in any given year can land a little lower depending on how the state’s finances performed. Worth noting for anyone reading this later in 2026: two competing ballot measures, Initiative 232 and Initiative 195, were both headed to Colorado voters in November 2026, one to cap the rate at 4.40% permanently and the other to move toward a graduated system. Check the outcome before assuming this table still applies to a future tax year.
Colorado’s Tax Burden vs. National Averages
| Tax Type | Colorado | How It Compares |
|---|---|---|
| Income Tax | Flat 4.40% | Mid-pack among the 41 states that tax wage income |
| Sales Tax | 2.90% state, ~7.89% avg. combined with local | Lowest state-level rate of any state that charges sales tax, but local add-ons vary a lot by city |
| Property Tax | ~0.50% effective rate | Well below the national average, among the lowest in the country |
| Estate / Inheritance Tax | None | Same as most states; only a handful still levy one |
The trade-off with a low, flat income tax and light property taxes is that Colorado leans harder on sales tax and local add-ons to fund services, and state spending on things like K-12 education tends to rank lower than in states with higher income tax collections.
Remote Workers in Colorado
If you live in Colorado but work for an out-of-state company, you’re still a Colorado resident for tax purposes, and Colorado taxes residents on all their income no matter where the employer sits. Since there’s no local income tax anywhere in the state, remote workers don’t need to worry about a city adding its own withholding on top, unlike remote workers in cities like New York or parts of Ohio. FAMLI applies the same way to remote employees working for a Colorado-based employer, and it can also apply if you’re a Colorado resident working for an out-of-state company depending on how your wages are reported. If you moved to Colorado partway through the year, only the income earned while you were a resident (plus any Colorado-source income before that) gets taxed by the state.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Colorado state income tax rate in 2026?
Colorado charges a flat state income tax rate of 4.40% on taxable income for tax year 2026. Every filer pays the same rate regardless of income, and there are no separate brackets.
Does Colorado have local or city income tax?
No. Colorado has no local or municipal income taxes anywhere in the state. The only income tax coming out of a Colorado paycheck is the flat 4.40% state rate plus federal tax.
What is Colorado FAMLI and how much does it cost employees?
FAMLI is Colorado’s Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance program. For 2026, employees contribute 0.44% of wages, matched by a 0.44% employer share at businesses with 10 or more workers, up to the Social Security wage base of $184,500.
Is Colorado a good state for take home pay compared to its neighbors?
Colorado’s 4.40% flat rate sits in the middle of the Mountain West. Wyoming has no income tax at all, Arizona’s 2.5% flat rate is lower, but Colorado still comes in below Utah’s 4.45% rate, and its property taxes are among the lowest in the country.
Why does my Colorado paycheck sometimes show a lower tax rate than 4.40%?
Colorado’s TABOR law requires the state to refund revenue collected above a constitutional cap. In years with a large surplus, the legislature has temporarily cut the income tax rate below 4.40% as one of the refund mechanisms, as happened for tax year 2024. The baseline statutory rate is 4.40%.
Does Colorado tax Social Security benefits?
Most Colorado retirees do not pay state tax on Social Security. Filers age 65 and older can generally subtract all Social Security benefits from Colorado taxable income, and younger retirees age 55 to 64 get a subtraction if income is under set thresholds.
A flat tax rewards simplicity over precision. Everyone from a minimum-wage worker to a millionaire pays the same 4.40% cut, which means Colorado’s tax code fits on a single line, but it also means the state gives up the built-in relief for lower earners that a graduated system provides. Whether that trade-off works in your favor mostly comes down to income level, and for now, at least, it’s a trade-off Colorado voters keep choosing to keep.
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