How Colorado taxes a paycheck
Colorado has used a flat rate since 1987 and voters have cut it twice at the ballot box: Proposition 116 took it from 4.63% to 4.55% in 2020 and Proposition 121 to 4.4% in 2022. The rate can drop temporarily in years when the state collects more than its TABOR revenue cap; it was 4.25% for 2024 on that basis. The 2026 rate is 4.4%.
The base is federal taxable income, which means the $16,100 federal standard deduction ($32,200 married) is already subtracted before Colorado's rate applies and there is no separate state deduction or personal exemption. That conformity makes Colorado's 4.4% lighter than it looks next to a state like Pennsylvania, whose 3.07% applies from the first dollar.
Two other items appear on Colorado paychecks that this estimate does not include. FAMLI, the paid family and medical leave program that began paying benefits in 2024, takes 0.45% of wages from employees. And five Front Range cities (Denver, Aurora, Glendale, Greenwood Village and Sheridan) levy an occupational privilege tax: in Denver it is $5.75 a month from any employee earning $500 or more in the month, a flat amount rather than a percentage.
How much taxes are taken out of paychecks in Colorado?
On a $60,000 salary in 2026, a single filer in Colorado pays about $5,020 in federal income tax, $4,590 in Social Security and Medicare, and about $1,930 in Colorado income tax, leaving roughly $48,460 a year or $1,864 every two weeks. FAMLI would take a further $270 and Denver's occupational tax $69.
Because the rate is flat and the deduction is federal, Colorado's effective state rate rises slowly with income: about 3.2% on $60,000 and 3.9% on $150,000.
Colorado compared with its neighbours
Colorado borders one no-tax state, Wyoming, and five that tax wages: Nebraska (top rate 4.55% for 2026), Kansas (5.2% and 5.58%), Oklahoma (4.5% top), New Mexico (up to 5.9%) and Utah (flat 4.5%). On a $60,000 single salary Colorado's roughly $1,930 sits just above Utah's $1,730 and Nebraska's $1,850, and well under Kansas's $2,550.
The Wyoming comparison is the one most searched. A $60,000 earner in Fort Collins pays about $1,930 that a neighbour across the line in Cheyenne does not; at $150,000 the gap is about $5,890.
Withholding forms and filing status in Colorado
Colorado employers withhold using the federal W-4 and Colorado's own DR 0004, an optional form that lets employees adjust for the state's flat structure; without it, withholding follows the federal W-4's status and the Colorado tables. Because the rate is flat and the deduction is the federal one, a married couple filing jointly pays exactly what two singles would on the same combined income above the deduction, which makes Colorado one of the few states with no marriage penalty or bonus at the state level.
Colorado has no reciprocal agreements. Its TABOR amendment can lower the rate for a single year when revenue exceeds the constitutional cap, as happened for 2024 (4.25%); the 2026 rate is 4.4% and any temporary reduction is announced after the fiscal year closes, applied on the return rather than through withholding.