Colorado Paycheck Calculator
Colorado has one of the simplest state income taxes in the country, a flat 4.40% on taxable income, yet a Colorado paycheck still hides two deductions that generic calculators routinely skip. This calculator works out your take-home pay with the 2026 federal brackets, Social Security and Medicare, the Colorado flat tax, the FAMLI paid-leave premium, and Denver’s head tax when it applies to you.
Quick Answer
A $78,000 salary in Colorado (single filer, biweekly, working outside Denver) nets $2,332.16 per paycheck: $320.38 federal tax, $186.00 Social Security, $43.50 Medicare, $104.75 Colorado tax at the flat 4.40% rate, and $13.20 FAMLI. Annual take-home is $60,636.20. Check the Denver box and another $5.75 a month comes out for the city's head tax, taking the biweekly net to $2,329.51.
Key takeaways
- Colorado's 2026 income tax rate is 4.40%, flat on taxable income. The temporary 4.25% rate from the 2024 tax year no longer applies.
- FAMLI costs the employee 0.44% of wages in 2026, half of the 0.88% total premium, up to the $184,500 wage base. That is $343.20 a year on a $78,000 salary.
- Denver's employee head tax is $5.75 a month, $69 a year, and only for months in which you earn at least $500 working in Denver.
- Every 2026 constant in this tool was re-checked before this rewrite: federal brackets and standard deductions, the Social Security wage base, the Colorado rate, the FAMLI rate and cap, and the Denver OPT amount.
- Quick Answer
- How to use the Colorado paycheck calculator
- How each deduction is calculated
- Worked example: $78,000, single, biweekly, outside Denver
- Flat tax versus progressive tax: where Colorado wins and loses
- The two deductions other calculators ignore
- What competing calculators miss
- What this estimate leaves out, stated plainly
- Frequently asked questions
- Add This Calculator to Your Website
- References
How to use the Colorado paycheck calculator
Enter a salary, pick a pay frequency and a filing status, then read the per-check breakdown. The results stay hidden until you click Calculate.
- Enter your annual salary: gross pay before tax, with the $78,000 worked example pre-filled. A blank salary falls back to $78,000, and a negative salary is treated as $0.
- Pick your pay frequency: weekly (52), biweekly (26), semimonthly (24), or monthly (12). The frequency only splits the annual figures; it does not change the annual tax.
- Pick your filing status: single or married filing jointly. This changes the standard deduction and the federal bracket widths, and it changes the Medicare additional-tax threshold from $200,000 to $250,000.
- Add extra withholding if you use it: a per-check amount comes off every paycheck, so $50 extra per biweekly check is $1,300 a year off take-home pay.
- Check the Denver box only if you work in Denver: it adds $69 a year. It is not a statewide tax, and it is not charged on months below the $500 Denver earnings threshold, a limit this tool does not test for, so low monthly earners should leave it unchecked.
- Click Calculate: the headline net, the effective-rate verdict, and the full per-check breakdown appear together. Copy or share the result from the buttons in the results box.
How each deduction is calculated
Each line follows one rule, and the table states it plainly so you can check the tool against your own pay stub. Taxable income for the federal and Colorado lines is salary minus the standard deduction, floored at $0.
| Deduction | 2026 rule in this tool | On $78,000 |
|---|---|---|
| Federal income tax | Progressive brackets (10% to 37%) on salary minus $16,100 single / $32,200 joint | $8,330.00 a year |
| Social Security | 6.2% of wages up to the $184,500 wage base | $4,836.00 a year |
| Medicare | 1.45% of all wages, plus 0.9% on wages above $200,000 single / $250,000 joint | $1,131.00 a year |
| Colorado income tax | 4.40% flat on salary minus the standard deduction (the proxy for Colorado taxable income) | $2,723.60 a year |
| FAMLI, employee share | 0.44% of wages up to $184,500; the employer pays the other 0.44% except at employers with fewer than 10 employees, where only your share is withheld | $343.20 a year |
| Denver OPT, if checked | $5.75 a month, flat, not a percentage of pay | $69.00 a year |
The verdict badge reads the effective rate, which is total deductions divided by salary. Below 19% reads as below-average withholding, 19% to 26% as typical Colorado withholding, and above 26% as above-average withholding. Those bands are this tool's own planning labels, not IRS or state thresholds, so treat them as a rough sense check, not a ruling on your withholding.
Worked example: $78,000, single, biweekly, outside Denver
The worked example is pre-filled, so one click reproduces every figure in this section. Taxable income is $78,000 minus the $16,100 standard deduction, which is $61,900.
The federal $8,330.00 comes from the 2026 single brackets: 10% on the first $12,400 ($1,240.00), 12% on the next $38,000 ($4,560.00), and 22% on the remaining $11,500 ($2,530.00). Colorado tax on the same $61,900 is a single multiplication, $61,900 times 4.40%, which is $2,723.60. A calculator that applies 4.40% to the full $78,000 instead would report $3,432.00, overstating Colorado tax by $708.40 a year, which is exactly the standard deduction times the rate.
Flat tax versus progressive tax: where Colorado wins and loses
The honest answer depends on your income, because a flat rate is simple in both directions. Colorado wins for high earners, since every dollar of taxable income pays the same 4.40% and no raise ever pushes part of your pay into a higher state rate. Progressive states win for low earners, since their bottom brackets can sit below 4.40%, and states with no income tax at all beat Colorado at every income level. Flat taxes are regressive in effect: the same rate takes a bigger bite of a small budget. That is a judgment about fairness, not a flaw in the arithmetic, and the calculator does not take a side; it just shows the flat figure next to the federal progressivity that still applies on top.
The two deductions other calculators ignore
FAMLI, Colorado's paid family and medical leave insurance, has been deducting from paychecks since 2024, yet most Colorado paycheck calculators still omit it. For 2026 the total premium is 0.88% of wages, split evenly, so your share is 0.44% on wages up to the $184,500 Social Security wage base. On a $78,000 salary that is $343.20 a year, or $13.20 per biweekly check. Employers with fewer than 10 workers do not pay the employer half, but they still withhold yours. Denver's Occupational Privilege Tax is even more obscure: a flat $5.75 a month withheld from any employee who earns at least $500 a month performing work in Denver, funding city services. It is not an income tax, it never scales with pay, and your employer pays a separate $4.00 a month per worker on top. Check the Denver box in the calculator if any of your work happens inside city limits, and remember the $500 monthly threshold the tool itself does not test.
What competing calculators miss
Most Colorado paycheck tools get the headline rate right and stop there, which leaves three gaps that change real paychecks:
- No FAMLI line: a tool without the 0.44% employee premium overstates take-home pay by $343.20 a year on a $78,000 salary, and by up to $811.80 a year at the wage cap.
- No Denver OPT: a tool with no Denver toggle misses $69 a year for every Denver worker, a small figure that still breaks a pay-stub reconciliation.
- Wrong tax base or stale rate: tools that apply 4.40% to gross salary overstate Colorado tax by $708.40 a year for a single filer taking the standard deduction, and tools still showing the temporary 4.25% rate understate it. The two errors partly cancel, which is presumably why nobody noticed.
- No per-check breakdown: an annual-only answer cannot be checked against a pay stub. This page shows every line per paycheck, so a mismatch points at one specific deduction instead of a vague total.
This calculator keeps the correct 2026 rate of 4.40%, subtracts the standard deduction the way Colorado's tax base actually works, adds the 0.44% FAMLI share, and offers the Denver OPT toggle no generic tool has. If you want the same breakdown for another state, the Maryland paycheck calculator, the Michigan paycheck calculator, the Minnesota paycheck calculator, and the Missouri paycheck calculator use the same structure with their own state rules. To work backwards from a target net figure instead, use the gross-up paycheck calculator.
What this estimate leaves out, stated plainly
This is an annual-liability estimate split across paychecks, not a replica of your employer's payroll run. Pre-tax deductions such as 401(k) contributions, health premiums, and HSA contributions are not modelled, and a reader with large pre-tax deductions will get an overstated tax figure here, because those dollars would lower both taxable income and FICA wages. Tax credits, the extra standard deduction for age 65 or blindness, head-of-household and married-filing-separately statuses, and Colorado's own additions and subtractions to federal taxable income are also outside the tool. Actual withholding in a given pay period can differ from the annual average, especially around the Social Security wage cap and the Medicare additional-tax threshold. Use the result to plan and to spot a pay-stub error, then confirm the final figure against your W-4, your DR 0004 if you filed one, and your actual pay stub.
Frequently asked questions
4.40%, flat on all taxable income regardless of filing status. The temporary 4.25% rate applied to the 2024 tax year only; 2026 is back at 4.40%.
Single filer, biweekly, outside Denver: about $320.38 federal, $186.00 Social Security, $43.50 Medicare, $104.75 Colorado tax, and $13.20 FAMLI, leaving $2,332.16 net per check.
For 2026 it is 0.44% of your wages (half of the 0.88% total premium), up to the $184,500 wage base. Your employer pays the other 0.44%, unless it has fewer than 10 employees, in which case only your share is withheld.
A flat $5.75 per month withheld from employees who earn at least $500 a month working in Denver, plus $4.00 a month the employer pays. It applies based on where you work, not where you live.
No city or county income tax, but Denver and a few other cities charge a flat occupational privilege tax, which is a head tax, not an income tax. This calculator models Denver's version only.
Colorado starts from your federal taxable income, so the federal standard deduction ($16,100 single / $32,200 joint for 2026) comes off before the 4.40% rate applies. Colorado's own additions and subtractions are not modelled, so the result is an estimate, not your return figure.
Pre-tax deductions such as 401(k) contributions and health premiums lower taxable income and FICA wages, tax credits lower the final bill, and actual withholding is rounded per pay period. Check those three items first; a mismatch larger than a few dollars per check usually sits in one of them.
Yes. It runs entirely in your browser, needs no account, and stores nothing. Copy the result with "Copy my results" or send it to another app with "Share results".
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References
- Internal Revenue Service. Publication 505, Tax Withholding and Estimated Tax (2026 standard deduction: $16,100 single, $32,200 married filing jointly). Accessed October 24, 2026.
- KPMG. Rev. Proc. 2025-32: Inflation adjustments for 2026, individual taxpayers (2026 federal bracket thresholds and standard deductions). Accessed October 24, 2026.
- Social Security Administration. Contribution and Benefit Base (2026 wage base $184,500). Accessed October 24, 2026.
- Journal of Accountancy. Social Security wage base and COLA announced for 2026 (6.2% employee rate, $11,439 maximum, 1.45% Medicare, 0.9% additional tax thresholds). Accessed October 24, 2026.
- Colorado Department of Revenue. Colorado Individual Income Tax Glossary (tax rate 4.4% for 2022, 2023, and 2025; 4.25% temporary rate for 2024 only; taxable income starts from federal taxable income with Colorado additions and subtractions). Accessed October 24, 2026.
- Colorado Department of Revenue. Individual Income Tax Guide (calculation of Colorado tax from Colorado taxable income, additions and subtractions). Accessed October 24, 2026.
- Colorado FAMLI Division. Premium and Benefits Calculator (2026 premiums 0.88% of wages, 0.44% employee and 0.44% employer, on wages up to the $184,500 Social Security wage cap). Accessed October 24, 2026.
- Guardian Life. Colorado PFML Updates for 2025 (2026 rate decrease from 0.90% to 0.88%, employee withholding cap 0.44%, $184,500 wage base, small-employer rule). Accessed October 24, 2026.
- City and County of Denver, Treasury Division. Tax Guide Topic No. 61, Occupational Privilege Taxes (employee OPT $5.75 per month, business OPT $4.00 per month, $500 monthly earnings test). Accessed October 24, 2026.
- Merchant Maverick. Guide to Colorado State Taxes (2026 FAMLI premium 0.88% split evenly, Colorado flat rate, Denver OPT context). Accessed October 24, 2026.