Cost of Living in Colorado 2026: Denver, Springs and Austin Compared

Colorado's cost of living index is 105 in LifeCalc's data (national average = 100), so the state as a whole runs about 5% above average. That number hides a 25-point spread. Denver is 128, Aurora 115, and Colorado Springs 103. The biggest financial lever in Colorado is which metro you pick, not the state income tax.

The short answers

• Denver: 128 on our index, 28% above the national average. To match the lifestyle a $75,000 salary buys at the national average, you need about $96,000.
• Colorado Springs: 103. The same lifestyle takes about $77,250, roughly $18,750 a year less than Denver.
• State income tax: a flat 4.40% of federal taxable income. On $100,000 that is $3,692, not $4,400, because Colorado starts from taxable income after the federal standard deduction.
• Denver vs Austin: Denver is 16 index points higher (128 vs 112). A $100,000 Denver take-home is matched by roughly $81,300 in Austin, a gap of about $18,700 a year in gross pay.

Run your own numbers in the relocation calculator or the cost of living calculator. The rest of this page shows the inputs behind each figure so you can check them.

Colorado cost of living by city

These are the Colorado metros in LifeCalc's dataset, with the salary each needs to match a $75,000 national-average lifestyle. The formula is salary multiplied by the index divided by 100. The index is a blended basket, so it cannot be split into housing versus everything else. For rent and home prices, check a live listing source for the neighborhood you are considering.

Metro	Index	Salary to match $75,000 national	vs Denver
Denver	128	$96,000	-
Aurora	115	$86,250	-$9,750
Colorado (statewide)	105	$78,750	-$17,250
Colorado Springs	103	$77,250	-$18,750

Denver's page has category detail: Denver cost of living. For a West Coast comparison, see Seattle vs Denver.

What you actually take home in Colorado

Inputs: single filer, 2026 federal brackets and the $16,100 standard deduction (confirmed against the IRS 2026 inflation adjustments), Social Security 6.2% up to $184,500, Medicare 1.45%. Colorado tax is 4.40% times (gross minus $16,100). The table excludes 401(k) contributions, health premiums, and local taxes, so treat it as a ceiling.

Gross	Federal	FICA	Colorado	Take-home	Per month
$60,000	$5,020	$4,590	$1,932	$48,458	$4,038
$80,000	$8,770	$6,120	$2,812	$62,298	$5,192
$100,000	$13,170	$7,650	$3,692	$75,488	$6,291
$150,000	$24,734	$11,475	$5,892	$107,899	$8,992
$200,000	$36,734	$14,339	$8,092	$140,835	$11,736

Colorado's income tax is a flat 4.40% applied to federal taxable income, per the Colorado Legislative Council Staff and the Tax Foundation. Every earner pays the same rate, so the state tax bill scales linearly. See the full state picture on the Colorado taxes page and model your own paycheck with the paycheck calculator or the tax calculator.

The FAMLI deduction most guides omit

Colorado's paid family and medical leave program (FAMLI) takes a premium out of every paycheck. For 2026 the total premium is 0.88% of wages, and employers may deduct half of it (0.44%) from employees. On $100,000 that is $440 a year, about $37 a month, on top of the table above. In exchange you get paid leave coverage. The maximum weekly benefit was $1,381.45 per the law firm Ogletree's 2026 summary, and it is adjusted with the state average weekly wage. To see what leave would pay on your salary, use the Colorado family leave calculator.

Denver vs Austin: what the numbers say

This comparison is the most common one we see for Colorado, so here it is with the inputs shown. Austin's index is 112, Denver's is 128, and Texas levies no individual income tax. Method: take the Denver take-home after federal, FICA, and Colorado tax, scale it by 112 divided by 128, then find the Austin gross salary that produces that take-home.

Denver salary	Denver take-home	Austin salary with same purchasing power	Gross gap
$80,000	$62,298	$65,100	$14,900
$100,000	$75,488	$81,300	$18,700
$150,000	$107,899	$121,700	$28,300

Read it this way: a Denver worker earning $100,000 can take a job in Austin at about $81,300 and keep the same purchasing power. About $3,700 of that gap is Colorado income tax the Texas job avoids, and the rest is the 16-point index difference.

The property tax offset for owners

Texas has no income tax but a higher property tax. The Tax Foundation puts the effective rate on owner-occupied housing at 1.40% in Texas and 0.50% in Colorado, a 0.9-point gap. The income tax saved equals that extra property tax at a break-even home value of (income tax gap) divided by 0.009:

• $60,000 earner: $1,932 saved, break-even home value about $215,000
• $100,000 earner: $3,692 saved, break-even about $410,000
• $150,000 earner: $5,892 saved, break-even about $655,000

If you own a home worth more than the break-even for your salary, Texas's tax advantage disappears. If you rent, it does not apply, though landlords pass some property tax into rent. These are statewide effective rates; your exact county and school district will differ. Sales tax is close: 2.90% state plus an average combined rate of 7.89% in Colorado, against 8.19% in Texas.

Childcare is where Denver costs more

From our metro childcare data, annual full-time center care:

Metro	Infant	Toddler	Preschool
Denver	$18,096	$14,976	$12,480
Colorado Springs	$15,288	$12,792	$10,764
Austin	$13,104	$11,076	$9,360

A family with an infant in center care pays $4,992 more a year in Denver than in Austin, and $2,808 more than in Colorado Springs. That single line can outweigh the income tax difference for a household near the $60,000 level. Ages, hours, and center versus home care change the number, so price your own situation in the relocation calculator.

Where else does Colorado sit?

State-level index from our data, national = 100: Colorado 105, Utah 101, Arizona 103, Texas 93, Washington 115, California 142, and the neighbors New Mexico and Wyoming at 92, Nebraska 92, Oklahoma 89, Kansas 87. Colorado is the priciest state in its immediate region, though not close to the coasts.

Against Seattle (index 172), the gap flips in Denver's favor. A Denver $100,000 take-home of $75,488 needs roughly $131,900 in Seattle, even though Washington has no income tax. See the Seattle vs Denver comparison for the full breakdown.

Worked example: a $100,000 Denver household

You earn $100,000 single in Denver. Take-home is $75,488, or $75,048 after the $440 FAMLI premium, about $6,254 a month. At the Denver index of 128, a basket that costs a national-average household $4,000 a month costs about $5,120 in Denver. Move to Colorado Springs (103) and it costs about $4,120, saving about $1,000 a month, or $12,000 a year, before any commute, salary, or tax effects. The point is the order of magnitude: metro choice within Colorado moves your budget more than the flat state tax does.

Which Colorado metro fits which situation

• Remote worker with a fixed salary: Colorado Springs or a Denver suburb like Aurora. Your salary does not adjust, so the index difference is pure savings.
• Denver-based employer with a fixed local salary: the table above tells you what you would need to earn to break even elsewhere before accepting an offer.
• Homeowner: Colorado's 0.50% effective property tax rate is low, so the state is friendlier than Texas once your home is worth more than the break-even values above.
• Parent of a young child: compare childcare separately. It is one of the largest metro-to-metro differences.

Two-earner household example

Take a married couple filing jointly with $150,000 combined income and no children. Using the 2026 joint standard deduction of $32,200 and the joint brackets, federal tax is $15,340. Colorado tax is 4.40% times ($150,000 minus $32,200), or $5,183. Take-home before FICA is $129,477, and after FICA ($11,475 on two paychecks worth of wages) it is roughly $118,000. The same couple in Texas keeps about $5,183 more, before property tax. The share of income lost to Colorado's tax is 3.5%, lower than the single-filer figure of 3.9% at $150,000 because the larger joint deduction shrinks the taxable base.

How to use the index for your own decision

Three steps turn this page into a personal answer:

1. Start from take-home, not gross. Pick your salary from the take-home table and subtract FAMLI (0.44% of pay) and any pre-tax contributions.
2. Scale by the index ratio. Multiply take-home by the destination index divided by the origin index. Moving from Denver to Colorado Springs, that is 103 divided by 128, or 0.80. Your Denver $75,488 needs only about $60,700 of Springs take-home to feel the same.
3. Add the items the index averages out. Childcare, a home you own, and a long commute are where real households diverge from the average basket.

Step 2 is why the salary-to-match column matters. A raise of 10% that comes with a move from Colorado Springs to Denver is a pay cut in purchasing power, because the index rises by about 24% (103 to 128).

Common mistakes in Colorado cost comparisons

• Comparing gross salaries. Two offers with identical gross pay differ by the state income tax and any local premium deductions such as FAMLI.
• Using one Colorado number. The state index of 105 sits between Colorado Springs (103) and Aurora (115), and Denver is 128. Quoting 105 for a Denver move understates the cost by 23 points.
• Ignoring the property tax swap. Comparing Colorado to Texas without the 0.50% versus 1.40% effective property tax gap overstates Texas's advantage for homeowners.

Method and limits

All index values, childcare costs, and state figures come from LifeCalc's dataset. Tax figures use 2026 federal rules and the 4.40% Colorado rate. We did not assume mountain-town pricing, since resort areas such as Aspen and Vail are not in our dataset and their costs vary widely block to block. Indices summarize a blended basket, and your own housing, commute, and family situation will move the result, so treat every figure here as a starting point and confirm with the relocation calculator.

Sources

• Colorado Legislative Council Staff: Individual Income Tax (flat 4.40% on federal taxable income)
• Tax Foundation: Colorado tax rates (4.40% income, 2.90% state sales, 0.50% effective property tax)
• Tax Foundation: Texas tax rates (1.40% effective property tax, 8.19% average sales tax)
• IRS: 2026 tax year inflation adjustments
• Ogletree: Colorado FAMLI 2026 premium and maximum weekly benefit
• Colorado DOLE FAMLI bulletin: 2026 premium rate 0.88%