Colorado Hourly Paycheck Calculator

Your hourly rate and hours in, your take-home pay out. Overtime is paid at 1.5× your rate; tips you report are taxed like wages.

Built by Ashish Hirpara · figures from IRS and state publications · sources · corrections

Hourly pay in Colorado

Colorado's minimum wage is $15.16 an hour in 2026. Employers can count tips toward up to $3.02 of it, so tipped workers can be paid $12.14 an hour if tips make up the rest. Some cities, such as Denver, set a higher local minimum wage. The state rate rises to $15.71 in 2027.

Overtime. Time-and-a-half for hours over 40 in a workweek or over 12 in a day or 12 hours in a row.

Every hour counts. Colorado income tax and FAMLI are percentages of your pay, so extra hours raise both. An occupational privilege tax is a flat amount each month.

Minimum wage after taxes in Colorado

At Colorado's minimum wage of $15.16 an hour (since January 1, 2026), a full-time worker takes home about $1,008.93 every two weeks - $26,232 a year, or $12.61 for each hour worked after tax. It rises to $15.71 on January 1, 2027 ($12.69 cash wage for tipped workers); see what each state's raise adds after tax.

Paid every two weeks, single filer, standard W-4, no benefits. Tipped workers can be paid $12.14 an hour in cash if tips bring them to the full minimum; their tax depends on the tips they report. Every state's figures: minimum wage after taxes by state.

Take-home at common hourly rates in Colorado

Full time (40 hours a week), paid every two weeks, single filer with a standard W-4 and no benefits. The last column is what you keep for each hour worked.

Part time and overtime at $20 an hour in Colorado

Every two weeks, single filer, standard W-4. Overtime is paid at 1.5 times the rate. More hours mean a larger share is withheld, because withholding is worked out as if each paycheck were repeated all year.

Because hours change from week to week, your withholding changes too: a week with lots of overtime is withheld as if you earned that much every week, so more comes out. It usually evens out when you file your return.

Tips and overtime in 2026

New federal deductions apply for 2025 through 2028: up to $25,000 for qualified tips, and up to $12,500 ($25,000 for joint filers) for the extra "half" of time-and-a-half overtime. Both phase out above $150,000 of income ($300,000 joint).

These are deductions on your tax return. Your employer still takes Social Security and Medicare out of tips and overtime, and still withholds income tax unless you tell it otherwise. If you expect to claim them, you can put the expected amount in Step 4(b) of your W-4 (and in the Step 4(b) box above) so less income tax is withheld during the year.

Every line that comes out of a Colorado paycheck, with its official source, is set out on the Colorado paycheck calculator.

Sources

• IRS Publication 15-T (2026), Federal Income Tax Withholding Methods - Worksheet 1A and the annual percentage-method tables
• IRS Publication 15 (2026), Employer's Tax Guide - Social Security and Medicare rates
• Social Security Administration - 2026 wage base of $184,500
• IRS - tips and overtime deductions
• Colorado FAMLI - Individuals and families - up to 12 weeks, plus up to 4 for pregnancy or childbirth complications; eligible after earning at least $2,500 (checked Sep 27, 2026)
• Colorado FAMLI - Individuals and families FAQs - up to 90% of the average weekly wage, higher share for lower earners; capped at $1,448 a week from July 1, 2026; some employers don't deduct the employee share (checked Sep 27, 2026)
• Colorado Department of Revenue - Wage Withholding Tax Guide (January 2026) - bonuses are compensation subject to Colorado withholding; no separate supplemental rate or method published (read Sep 27, 2026)
• Colorado Department of Revenue - DR 1098, 2026 Colorado Withholding Worksheet for Employers - 4.40%; allowance $11,000 married filing jointly, $5,500 otherwise, or DR 0004 Line 2; DR 0004 Line 3 added per paycheck
• Colorado Department of Revenue - DR 1098 page (2026 form and calculator)
• Colorado Department of Revenue - DR 0004, 2026 Colorado Employee Withholding Certificate - optional; without it the employer uses the IRS W-4; Table 1 standard allowances
• Colorado Department of Revenue - DR 0004 employer resources - no DR 0004 means the DR 1098 amounts based on the IRS W-4
• Colorado Department of Revenue - Colorado Wage Withholding Tax Guide (revised January 2026) - wages subject to Colorado withholding generally include any wages subject to federal withholding
• Colorado FAMLI - Employers - 0.88% of wages, employees pay no more than 50%; wages up to the Social Security wage cap
• Colorado FAMLI - Update your employee headcount for 2026 premiums - 2026: 0.88% (10 or more employees), 0.44% (nine or fewer); employers may deduct up to 0.44% from wages
• Colorado FAMLI - Employer FAQs - premiums are post-tax deductions
• Colorado FAMLI - Rules and guidance - 0.88% falls to 0.86% from January 1, 2027
• Colorado FAMLI - Individuals and families FAQs - weekly benefit capped at $1,448 from July 1, 2026
• City and County of Denver - Tax Guide Topic 61, Occupational Privilege Taxes - employee $5.75 a month when earning $500 or more in the month; employer $4; paid once with more than one Denver employer
• Greenwood Village - Occupational Privilege Tax - $2 a month employee, $2 employer, when $250 or more is earned in the month
• Colorado Department of Labor and Employment - 2026 COMPS Order poster (wage and hour rights) - $15.16 in 2026; tip credit up to $3.02; overtime after 40 a week or 12 a day or consecutive; final pay
• Colorado Department of Labor and Employment - Minimum wage will increase to $15.71 in 2027
• Colorado Department of Labor and Employment - Paydays, pay periods and pay statements - pay periods no longer than a month or 30 days; payday within 10 days of the period's end
• Colorado Wage Act, C.R.S. § 8-4-101 et seq. (revised August 6, 2025) - § 8-4-109: final pay immediately when fired, next regular payday when you quit; penalties after a 14-day written demand