Colorado to Texas Retirement Taxes (2026): Every Tax That Changes

Updated July 25, 2026. Quick answer (2026): Moving from Colorado to Texas in retirement, you stop paying Colorado income tax on retirement withdrawals. Four separate taxes change when you move — state income tax on withdrawals, state estate tax, state inheritance tax, and what probate costs your heirs. Most comparisons only price the first one.

Colorado vs Texas: every tax that changes

Every cell is quoted from our statute-cited 51-jurisdiction dataset. Download the full dataset as CSV.

1. What changes on your annual tax bill

Colorado taxes retirement withdrawals: Pension/annuity subtraction (includes pensions, 401(k), IRA distributions, and taxable SS within cap): up to $20,000 (age 55-64) or $24,000 (65+) per taxpayer. Texas does not. On a $100,000 annual withdrawal, the Colorado bill is whatever its flat 4.4% schedule produces; in Texas it is $0. Social Security is treated as follows — Colorado: Taxed only above deductions: age 65+ may subtract 100% of federally taxed Social Security; Texas: Not taxed (no state income tax).

2. What changes at death: state estate tax

Neither state levies an estate tax. Colorado: none Texas: none Only the federal estate tax applies.

3. What changes at death: state inheritance tax

Neither state levies an inheritance tax. Colorado: none Texas: none

4. The one nobody prices: what probate costs your heirs

Colorado uses a reasonable-fee fee model (UPC state: reasonable compensation (C.R.S. §15-12-719); no percentage schedule.); Texas uses a hybrid model (Executor/administrator standard compensation is statutory (Tex. Estates Code §352.002): 5% commission on cash actually received plus 5% on cash actually paid out (excluding e.g. cash on hand/bank deposits at death and distributions to heirs), capped in aggregate at 5% of the gross fair market value of the estate subject to administration. Attorney fees are reasonable. Note: most Texas probates are independent administrations where compensation is often governed by the will. Verified.). Filing fees — Colorado: $199 to open a decedent’s estate (informal or formal), ~$229 with equal justice surcharge — statewide per C.R.S. §13-32-102 and Colorado Judicial fee schedule (JDF 1) Texas: County clerk / statutory probate court fees vary by county; typically ~$250-$450 to file an application for probate. Representative range from county schedules, not verified against a single official statewide source.

Full detail: probate cost by state and small-estate limits by state.

Probate cost in each state, specifically

Colorado uses a “reasonable fee” standard with no schedule, and its small-estate route does not clear a solely owned house. Texas uses a hybrid standard — a statutory bound with reasonableness inside it, and its statute does not say whether that route reaches real property. The two states differ on that question, which is exactly the kind of thing a move changes. Full figures with the governing statute, the court filing fee and the small-estate threshold: Colorado probate cost and Texas probate cost.

Four taxes, two states, one order of operations

Everything above changes together: what Colorado stops taking on withdrawals, what Texas does not take at death, and what probate costs in each. The order you do things in — when you establish domicile, when you convert, when you retitle property — changes the total, and some of it cannot be undone afterwards. If a move is genuinely on the table, here is what to look for in an advisor who knows both Colorado and Texas. If you would rather price it yourself first, the two-state comparison tool is free and asks for no email.

Will Colorado still tax me after I move to Texas?

Not on your retirement withdrawals, once you genuinely change domicile — but that is a harder test than a change of address, and what you leave behind stays in reach.

• Domicile is a test, not a mailing address. A departing state can and does audit residency. Days present, voter registration, driver’s licence, where your doctors and advisers are, and where you keep what you value all count.
• A Roth conversion is taxed where you live in the year you convert. Sequencing a conversion after establishing the new domicile is often worth more than the annual saving — see how all 51 jurisdictions tax Roth conversions.

Full state detail

Every figure above is summarized. The complete statute-cited breakdown for each state: Colorado retirement taxes and Texas retirement taxes. To compare any other pair, start at the retirement tax relocation hub.

Widen the comparison

This page prices one corridor. To see every destination Colorado retirees consider and every origin state moving to Texas, start there instead. For any pair not covered, the retirement tax comparison tool runs all 51 jurisdictions, and the probate cost calculator works out what settling the estate costs in each.

Talking this through

Relocation timing, Roth conversion sequencing and estate exposure interact, and the order you do them in changes the total. If you want a second opinion, understand what it should cost first — see our advisor cost guide.

Disclosure: the button above routes to an advertising partner and Clear Money Guide may earn a referral fee. See our Affiliate Disclosure.

Primary sources

• C.R.S. § 39-22-104(4)(f), (g), (y)
• CDOR Income Tax Topics: Social Security, Pensions, and Annuities
• Tex. Const. art. VIII, § 24-a
• Colo. Rev. Stat. §15-12-719
• Colo. Rev. Stat. §15-12-1201
• Colo. Rev. Stat. §13-32-102
• Tex. Estates Code §352.002
• Tex. Estates Code §205.001
• Tex. Estates Code ch. 257

Methodology: every figure is quoted from Clear Money Guide’s statute-cited 51-jurisdiction datasets, compiled from state statutes, session laws and revenue-department publications and adversarially verified in July 2026. Nothing here is personalized tax or legal advice. Confirm your own facts with a qualified adviser before you move.