Updated October 2, 2026. Quick answer: Colorado’s income tax rate varies by tax year. The Department of Revenue’s Individual Income Tax Guide lists 4.4% for tax year 2025, and its table does not list 2026, so this page does not state a 2026 rate. Read the 2026 rate from the Department when it publishes one.
What the Department of Revenue publishes
The guide says “The Colorado income tax rate varies by tax year.” It prints the recent rates: “2024 4.25% 2025 4.4%”. As of October 2, 2026 the table ends at 2025. This page does not read a 2026 rate from any other document and will not guess one.
Colorado income tax rates for recent tax years
| Tax year | Rate |
|---|---|
| 2019 | 4.5% |
| 2020 | 4.55% |
| 2021 | 4.5% |
| 2022 | 4.4% |
| 2023 | 4.4% |
| 2024 | 4.25% |
| 2025 | 4.4% |
The guide also says that “Colorado income tax is calculated as a percentage of Colorado taxable income”, so one rate applies to the whole taxable amount in a year, and that for people with taxable incomes under $50,000 the Department publishes tax tables that approximate the tax.
A worked example at the latest published rate
As a computed example (an illustration, not a source figure), take $70,000 of Colorado taxable income taxed at the 2025 rate. At 4.4% the tax is $3,080 (computed). That is a 2025 rate result and not a 2026 estimate.
What to read next
For how Colorado treats pensions, Social Security and other retirement income, read the Colorado retirement taxes page. Colorado’s alternative minimum tax is a separate calculation, which the guide describes and this page does not cover.
Common mistakes
- Quoting 4.4% as the 2026 rate. It is the latest rate the guide lists, for 2025.
- Assuming the rate stays the same each year. The guide says it varies by tax year.
- Ignoring the Department’s tax tables for incomes under $50,000, which approximate the tax.
- Using taxable income before Colorado’s additions and subtractions.
Related: how Colorado taxes retirement income, whether Colorado taxes pensions, whether Colorado taxes Social Security, and the federal 2026 tax brackets.
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Sources
- Colorado Department of Revenue, Individual Income Tax Guide: https://tax.colorado.gov/individual-income-tax-guide
- Colorado Revised Statutes index, Colorado General Assembly (where later updates appear; no figure on this page comes from it): https://leg.colorado.gov/colorado-revised-statutes
- Colorado General Assembly, Legislative Council Staff (where later updates appear; no figure on this page comes from it): https://leg.colorado.gov/agencies/legislative-council-staff
Sources: the primary documents linked above, read on October 2, 2026. General information, not tax advice. Your own facts decide the outcome, and a preparer, the plan administrator or the agency itself is the right place to confirm anything consequential.