Updated August 7, 2026. Quick answer: every figure Clear Money Guide holds about Colorado, on one page, each one copied from a dataset that cites its own statute or agency. Built for reporters on deadline — take any line, follow the link for the source.
What stands out about Colorado
These are the figures where Colorado differs most from the rest of the country — selected by counting how many jurisdictions share each value, not by editorial preference.
- Grace period days: One month, not less than 30 days — the only jurisdiction of the 47 we have data for
- Free look days: 15 days — the only jurisdiction of the 31 we have data for
- Franchise tax: none identified — one of only 2 of 38
- Authority: department guidance — one of only 2 of 30
What dying costs here
- Small estate limit: 80000
- Small estate scope: personal_only
Source and full detail: the cost-of-dying index. Figures copied from those pages, which own them.
Estate and property law status
- Authorized: yes
- Statute or act: C.R.S. 24-21-514.5 (RULONA), enacted SB 20-096
- Effective date: 2020-12-31
- Conditions: Applies only to an ELECTRONIC record (514.5(2)(a)). The system must let the notary, the remote individual and any required witness view the same record in real time. Identity via a credible witness personally known to the notary, OR remote presentation of a government ID combined with dynamic kno…
- Association name: Colorado Life and Health Insurance Protection Association — note ‘Protection’, not ‘Guaranty’
- Death benefit limit: $300,000
- Cash surrender limit: $100,000
- Annuity limit: $250,000
- Aggregate limit: $300,000
- Statute citation: Colo. Rev. Stat. §§ 10-20-101 et seq. (Colorado Life and Health Insurance Protection Association Act); section-level pinpoint not independently read
- Free look days: 15 days
- Trigger: delivery of the policy
- Refund basis: Refund of any premium; for a variable life insurance policy, the amount refunded is the account value calculated as of the date the policy is returned plus any policy fee or charge deducted from the policy. Any refund must be paid directly to the policyholder by the insurer in a timely manner
- Grace period days: One month, not less than 30 days
- Coverage during grace: The insurance continues in force during the month of grace; if the insured dies within the month of grace, the unpaid premium for the current policy year may be deducted in any settlement under the policy
- Variations: Group life insurance: a 31-day grace period for the payment of any premium due except the first, during which death benefit coverage continues in force unless the policyholder has given the insurer advance written notice of discontinuance; the policy may make the policyholder liable for a pro rat…
Source and full detail: notary rules by state · guaranty association limits · life insurance free-look periods · life insurance grace periods. Figures copied from those pages, which own them.
Working and earning here
- Quit deadline: Next regular payday
- Fired deadline: Immediately at discharge; if the accounting unit is not available, within 6 hours of the start of the next regular workday (on-site) or 24 hours (off-site)
- Statute citation: Colo. Rev. Stat. 8-4-109 (Colorado Wage Act)
- Has law: Yes
- Disclosure trigger: in the job posting
- Employer threshold: no employee-count threshold (one employee in Colorado is enough), with a narrow out-of-state carve-out
- Covers remote roles: yes
- Effective date: 2021-01-01
- Salary history ban: yes
- Local ordinances: none identified
- Wage replacement: progressive: 90% of the portion of average weekly wage at or below 50% of the state average weekly wage, then 50% of the portion above, capped at 90% of the state AWW
- Max weeks family: 12 weeks in an application year, plus up to 4 additional weeks for pregnancy or childbirth complications
- Max weeks medical: 12 weeks in an application year – the SAME shared 12-week bank as family leave, not a separate entitlement
- Funding: both – 0.88% of wages for 2026, split 0.44% employer and 0.44% employee; employers with fewer than 10 employees owe only the 0.44% employee share
- Benefits effective date: 2024-01-01
- Mandatory: mandatory
- Authority: department guidance
- Contested: no
Source and full detail: final paycheck laws by state · pay transparency laws by state · paid family leave by state · the convenience-of-the-employer rule. Figures copied from those pages, which own them.
Renting here
- Return deadline: 1 month after termination or surrender/acceptance of the premises, whichever is last; extendable by contract to up to 60 days
- Interest required: no
- Statute citation: Colo. Rev. Stat. 38-12-103
Source and full detail: security deposit law by state. Figures copied from those pages, which own them.
Starting a business here
- Formation fee: $50
- Annual report: $25 Periodic Report
- Franchise tax: none identified
- Publication requirement: none
- Statute citation: C.R.S. 7-90-501 (periodic report); fees set by the Secretary of State under C.R.S. 24-21-104(3)
- Five year total: at least $175
Source and full detail: LLC cost by state. Figures copied from those pages, which own them.
Tax treatment here
- Has law: Yes
- Treatment: ordinary income
- Rate: 4.40% flat
- Preferential mechanism: deduction
- Tax year: 2025
- Statute citation: C.R.S. § 39-22-104 (rate); C.R.S. § 39-22-518 (capital gain subtraction)
Source and full detail: capital gains tax by state. Figures copied from those pages, which own them.
For journalists: how to cite this
Clear Money Guide, Colorado Money Statistics 2026. https://clearmoneyguide.com/state-money-statistics/colorado/. Every figure on this page is copied from a Clear Money Guide dataset that states its own primary source and the date it was read — follow the section links for the statute or agency behind any number. Free to reuse with attribution under CC BY 4.0.
What this sheet does and does not contain
This sheet aggregates; it does not research. Every figure is copied from the owning page linked in each section, and a figure we do not own is simply absent — not estimated, not inferred from a neighbouring state. That is why sheets differ in length: this one states 51 figures, and a state where we hold less will show fewer. A short sheet means we have less, not that the state has less.
Statutory law changes. Each linked owner page carries the date its figures were read; check there before relying on anything here. See also Colorado financial adviser statistics and all 51 state money sheets.
General information about published law and public data, not legal, tax or investment advice. No advertising appears on this page and we earn nothing from it.