Colorado Paycheck Calculator
Estimate your take-home pay in Colorado, which taxes wages at a flat rate that occasionally shifts slightly from year to year under the state's TABOR revenue-refund law, standing at 4.4% for 2025.
This calculator provides estimates for informational purposes only. Actual paycheck amounts may vary based on your employer, benefits, local taxes, filing status, and tax elections.
Your estimate will appear here
Enter your pay details and click calculate to see your estimated take-home pay, tax breakdown, and annual income.
Quick Answer
Colorado's flat state income tax rate is 4.4% for 2025, and this calculator uses that rate along with federal income tax, Social Security (6.2%), and Medicare (1.45%). The rate can shift slightly year to year under Colorado's TABOR law, which triggers temporary cuts when state revenue exceeds a set limit, so it's worth checking the current statutory rate each filing season.
How It Works: Formula & Variables
Net Pay = Gross Pay − Federal Tax − State Tax (4.4% flat) − Social Security − Medicare − Other Deductions
- Gross Pay
- Your total earnings before any deductions, hourly rate times hours, or annual salary divided by pay periods.
- Federal Tax
- Calculated using progressive tax brackets based on your filing status and taxable income.
- State Tax
- A flat 4.4% of taxable income, Colorado's standard statutory rate for 2025 (2024 briefly used 4.25% under a TABOR refund provision).
- Social Security
- 6.2% of gross pay, up to the annual wage base limit.
- Medicare
- 1.45% of gross pay, with no wage limit (plus 0.9% surtax above certain thresholds).
Worked Examples
Example 1: Hourly worker in Colorado Springs
Riley works 40 hours a week at $23 an hour. Gross weekly pay is $920. After federal income tax (around $92), Colorado state tax (4.4%, or $40.48), Social Security (6.2%, or $57.04), and Medicare (1.45%, or $13.34), estimated take-home pay lands at about $717.14 a week, roughly 78% of gross pay.
Example 2: Salaried employee in Denver
Morgan earns $78,000 a year, paid biweekly ($3,000 gross per paycheck), filing as Single. After federal tax, the 4.4% Colorado flat tax, Social Security, and Medicare, estimated take-home pay comes out to roughly $2,290 per paycheck.
Example 3: Married couple in the Denver metro
Jordan and Alex file Married Filing Jointly with a combined salary of $115,000 a year, paid biweekly ($4,423.08 gross per paycheck). After federal tax, Colorado's flat state tax, Social Security, and Medicare, estimated take-home pay comes out to roughly $3,420 per paycheck, about 77% of gross pay.
Key Concepts
A rate that can move slightly year to year: Colorado's TABOR law caps how much revenue the state can keep, and when collections run over that limit, part of the surplus can go back to taxpayers as a temporary income tax rate cut, like the 4.25% rate that applied just for 2024.
One of the more moderate flat rates: At 4.4%, Colorado sits in the middle of the pack among flat-tax states, higher than Arizona's 2.5% but lower than Illinois' 4.95%.
Denver's occupational privilege tax is a flat fee, not a percentage: The small monthly charge some Colorado cities apply to workers is a fixed dollar amount, unlike a real municipal income tax that scales with what you earn.
No traditional local income tax: Colorado cities and counties don't charge a percentage-based income tax the way Ohio or Pennsylvania municipalities do.
Useful for comparing job offers: If you're weighing a Colorado offer against one in a neighboring state like Wyoming (no income tax) or Utah (a different flat rate), run both through a paycheck calculator to see the real gap in take-home pay.
Common Mistakes
Using the 2024 rate for 2025 or later: The 4.25% rate only applied to the 2024 tax year under a one-time TABOR refund mechanism. Later years use the standard 4.4% rate unless another refund is triggered.
Confusing Denver's occupational privilege tax with a real local income tax: That charge is a small flat monthly fee, not a percentage of wages, so it doesn't meaningfully change take-home pay the way a true local income tax would.
Comparing gross salaries across states: A $70,000 offer in Colorado and a $70,000 offer in Wyoming don't translate to the same take-home pay. Always compare net pay, not gross.
Ignoring pre-tax deductions: 401(k) contributions and health insurance premiums lower your taxable income before both federal and state tax apply, so leaving them out understates your real take-home pay.
Frequently Asked Questions
Colorado charges a flat 4.4% state income tax on wages for 2025, and this calculator uses that rate. The rate dipped temporarily to 4.25% for 2024 under a state revenue-triggered rebate law, then returned to the standard 4.4% starting in 2025.
Colorado's Taxpayer's Bill of Rights, known as TABOR, requires the state to return excess revenue to taxpayers when collections exceed a set limit, sometimes through a temporary income tax rate cut. That mechanism lowered the rate to 4.25% for the 2024 tax year only, and it reverted to the standard 4.4% rate for 2025.
The state income tax rate is the same everywhere in Colorado, including Denver. Denver does charge a small flat monthly Occupational Privilege Tax on people who work within city limits, but that's a fixed dollar amount rather than a percentage of income, and it's separate from the income tax this calculator estimates.
Federal income tax, Colorado's flat state income tax, Social Security (6.2% up to the annual wage base), and Medicare (1.45%, plus 0.9% more for high earners). A small number of Colorado cities, including Denver, also charge a flat monthly occupational privilege tax on top of income tax.
Not in the traditional percentage-of-income sense. A handful of Colorado cities, including Denver and Aurora, charge a small flat monthly occupational privilege tax on workers, generally a few dollars a month, but it doesn't scale with income the way a real local income tax would.
Yes, switch between the Hourly and Salary tabs and enter your wage or annual salary along with your pay frequency. The state is already set to Colorado.