Denver Paycheck Calculator (2026)

How the Denver Paycheck Calculator: Take-Home Pay Works

This Denver paycheck calculator estimates your take-home pay in Denver, Colorado, using the 2026 federal brackets, Social Security, Medicare, Colorado income tax. Denver workers pay Colorado's flat 4.4% income tax, the FAMLI paid leave premium and a small local head tax, with strong wages and rising housing costs. Enter your salary, pay frequency, filing status and any pre-tax deduction to see net pay per paycheck and per year.

How Denver paychecks are taxed

A Denver paycheck is taxed at the federal level and at Colorado's flat 4.4% rate, applied to federal taxable income, so the state effectively uses the federal standard deduction. On a $65,000 salary with a traditional 401(k), Colorado tax is about $2,000, or roughly 3% of gross pay. Colorado follows federal treatment of pre-tax retirement contributions.

Colorado's TABOR law sometimes triggers temporary rate cuts when revenue exceeds limits, so the rate can differ from year to year. Set state withholding on Form DR 0004.

Local taxes and payroll deductions in Denver

Denver charges an occupational privilege tax of a few dollars a month on employees who work in the city, and employers add a matching amount, which appears as a small deduction. Colorado employees also pay half of the FAMLI paid leave premium, about 0.44% of wages up to the Social Security wage base. The calculator defaults to that amount. There is no city or county income tax on wages.

Technology, aerospace, energy and health care are large employers, and remote workers have moved to the Front Range. See the Colorado paycheck calculator for statewide rules.

What jobs pay in the Denver-Aurora-Centennial area

About 1,609,350 people worked in the Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO metro area in May 2025. The median annual wage across all of them was $62,320 ($29.96 an hour), 4% above the Colorado median of $59,800 and 22% above the national median of $50,980. The average wage was higher, at $81,690, because a smaller number of high earners pull the average up; the median is the better guide to a typical paycheck.

After federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare and the Colorado taxes in this calculator, a single worker on that $62,320 median takes home about $49,946 a year, or $4,162 a month and $1,921.01 every two weeks.

Wage figures: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO metropolitan area. Take-home pay: this page's 2026 calculator, single filer, no pre-tax deductions, default settings.

The biggest jobs in Denver and what they take home

The largest occupations in the Denver-Aurora-Centennial area by number of workers are below. Each row shows the median salary and what a single filer keeps after 2026 taxes in Denver.

Most of the largest occupations sit near or below the middle of the pay range: 8 of these 15 pay less than the $62,320 median for all workers, which is why the overall median is lower than many people expect.

Worked example: $65,000 salary in Denver

A single Denver worker earning $65,000, paid every two weeks and contributing $100 per paycheck to a traditional 401(k), has gross pay of $2,500.00 per paycheck. Federal income tax after the $2,600 deferral and the $16,100 standard deduction is about $5,308. Social Security is $4,030 and Medicare is $943. Colorado state income tax is about $2,037, state payroll programs add about $286.

Net pay is about $49,796 a year, or $1,915.24 per paycheck, which is 76.6% of gross pay. Change any input in the calculator above to test your own situation.

Well-paid occupations in the Denver-Aurora-Centennial area

Among occupations with at least 2,400 workers in the Denver-Aurora-Centennial area, these have the highest median pay. Federal tax takes a larger share at these salaries, so compare the take-home column rather than the salary when weighing offers.

Jobs that are unusually common in Denver

A location quotient compares how common a job is locally with its share nationwide: 2.0 means twice as concentrated as the U.S. overall. These occupations stand out in the Denver-Aurora-Centennial area and say a lot about which industries hire there.

Is pay higher in Denver? Popular jobs compared

Median annual wages for well-known jobs in the Denver-Aurora-Centennial area, the whole state of Colorado and the United States. Pay usually tracks living costs, so a higher wage does not always mean more money left over.

Starting wages in the Denver-Aurora-Centennial area

The lowest-paid 10% of workers in the Denver-Aurora-Centennial area earn under $18.02 an hour. Common hourly jobs pay the median rates below; a 40-hour week at that rate takes home the amount shown after 2026 taxes. Check the current Colorado minimum wage on the U.S. Department of Labor state minimum wage page, since several states raise it each year.

Which career fields pay most in the Denver-Aurora-Centennial area

BLS groups every job into broad career fields. Here is how many people work in each across the Denver-Aurora-Centennial area, the field's median salary and what that salary takes home in Denver. Management pays the most at a median of $160,810; food preparation and serving related pays the least at $38,710.

Entry-level to top pay for Denver jobs

The median hides a wide range. The lowest-paid 10% in a job are often new to it, while the top 10% are usually experienced, specialized or in management. The ranges below for common Denver jobs show how much room there is to grow, with take-home pay at each level.

Cost of living in Denver: rent, sales tax and housing

Denver housing has become expensive, with one-bedroom rents around $1,700 to $2,100 a month and a combined sales tax rate of about 8.8%. Property taxes are moderate. Colorado has no tax on Social Security for older residents, and its high altitude and dry climate affect heating and cooling bills. Salaries are above the national average in many professional jobs.

Because Colorado uses federal taxable income, tax planning at the federal level often benefits Colorado tax as well.

Hourly wages in Denver: what different pay rates take home

Many Denver workers are paid by the hour, so here is the estimated take-home pay at common wage rates for a single filer working 2,080 hours a year, using 2026 federal rules and the Denver and state taxes in this calculator. The figures assume no pre-tax deductions, so your own paycheck will differ once benefits are included.

Overtime is taxed as ordinary wages, so an extra hour is worth less than the wage rate after tax. Use the hourly paycheck calculator to include overtime hours and different pay frequencies.

How a 401(k) contribution changes a Denver paycheck

On a $65,000 salary with no retirement savings, estimated take-home pay in Denver is $51,970 a year. Contributing 6% to a traditional 401(k), which is $3,900, reduces take-home pay by only $3,260 because the contribution lowers federal income tax and, in most cases, state income tax. A 10% contribution of $6,500 lowers take-home pay by $5,434.

In other words, each dollar you save costs roughly 84 cents of take-home pay at this income. If your employer matches contributions, the true cost is even lower, so contributing at least enough to receive the full match is one of the most reliable ways to raise your total pay. Roth contributions cost the full dollar of take-home pay but grow tax-free.

Single or married: a $120,000 household in Denver

Filing status changes the outcome even when income is the same. A single filer earning $120,000 in Denver takes home about $88,150 a year, while a married couple filing jointly with one earner at $120,000 takes home about $96,389, a difference of $8,238 a year, because the joint standard deduction is $32,200 and the joint brackets are twice as wide.

If both spouses work, each employer withholds as if the job were the only income, which can leave you under-withheld, so use the multiple jobs paycheck calculator and update Form W-4. Head-of-household filers with a qualifying dependent can use the head of household calculator.

What a typical Denver paycheck covers

On the $62,320 median, the common guideline of spending no more than 30% of gross pay on housing allows rent of about $1,558 a month. Using the 50/30/20 rule on the $4,162 monthly take-home pay, that is about $2,081 for needs such as rent, food and transport, $1,249 for wants and $832 for savings and debt payments.

If rents run above $1,558 for the home you want, the usual fixes are a roommate, a longer commute or a second income in the household; the rent affordability calculator tests your own numbers.