2024 Colorado Salary Paycheck Calculator

A very small but growing number of states (plus the District of Columbia) mandate paid leave for an employee’s own health condition: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Oregon, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, Washington, and Washington, DC.

• Employee pays in CT, NY
• Employer pays in DC.
• Both pay in MA, WA

Find Colorado’s current and historical family leave insurance rates in our Colorado’s FLI section in Payroll Resources.

Yes, Colorado has local income taxes. You will see local taxes included in your results, when applicable.

There are 15 states with municipalities, counties, school districts, or special districts that impose local income taxes: Alabama, Maryland, Ohio, Colorado, Michigan, Oregon, Delaware, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Indiana, New Jersey, Washington, Kentucky, New York, and West Virginia.

To find your local taxes, head to our Colorado local taxes resources. To learn more about how local taxes work, read this guide to local taxes.

There are 3 different methods used to calculate local taxes, it depends on the jurisdiction.

1. Percentage of taxable wages: used by most
2. Flat tax (monthly or annual): used by Colorado and Pennsylvania Local Services Tax
3. Tax tables: used by the New York Localities

Most of these taxes are paid by the employee, but there are a few which are paid by the employer. This calculation process can be complex, but PaycheckCity’s payroll service can do it for you. Learn about PaycheckCity Payroll.

For salaried employees, the number of payrolls in a year is used to determine the gross paycheck amount.
For example, let’s look at a salaried employee who is paid $52,000 per year:

• If this employee’s pay frequency is weekly (weekly = 52 pay periods per year) the calculation is: $52,000 / 52 payrolls = $1,000 gross pay
• If this employee’s pay frequency is semi-monthly (semi-weekly = 24 pay periods per year) the calculation is: $52,000 / 24 payrolls = $2,166.67 gross pay

FICA (Federal Insurance Contributions Act) includes 2 taxes: Social Security and Medicare. Both Social Security and Medicare taxes are deducted from each paycheck to fund these important government programs.

Social Security tax is 6.2% on $147,000 of earned income. The maximum Social Security tax for employees is $9,114.

Medicare tax is 1.45%. There is a 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax for employees on wages earned after $200,000 ($250,000 for married filing jointly, or $125,000 for married filing separately). This means when an employee’s income reaches that threshold in a calendar year, the employer should withhold 2.35% total for Medicare. Learn more about Social Security and Medicare taxes.

In addition to withholding federal and state taxes, part of your gross income might also have to contribute to deductions. These are known as “pre-tax deductions” and include contributions to retirement accounts and some health care costs. For example, when you look at your paycheck you might see an amount deducted for your company’s health insurance plan and for your 401k plan. Pre-tax deductions result in lower take-home, but also means less of your income is subject to tax. Some deductions are “post-tax”, like Roth 401(k), and are deducted after being taxed.

In our calculators, you can add deductions under “Benefits and Deductions” and select if it’s a fixed amount, a percentage of the gross-pay, or a percentage of the net pay. For hourly calculators, you can also select a fixed amount per hour. For pre-tax deductions, check the Exempt checkboxes, meaning the deduction will be taxed.

In 2020, the IRS updated the Federal W4 form that eliminated withholding allowances. The redesigned Form W4 makes it easier for your withholding to match your tax liability. Here’s how to answer the new questions:

• Step 2: check the box if you have more than one job or you and your spouse both have jobs. This will increase withholding.
• Step 3: enter an amount for dependents.The old W4 used to ask for the number of dependents. The new W4 asks for a dollar amount. Here’s how to calculate it: If your total income will be $200k or less ($400k if married) multiply the number of children under 17 by $2,000 and other dependents by $500. Add up the total.
• Step 4a: extra income from outside of your job, such as dividends or interest, that usually don't have withholding taken out of them. By entering it here you will withhold for this extra income so you don't owe tax later when filing your tax return.
• Step 4b: any additional withholding you want taken out. Any other estimated tax to withhold can be entered here. The more is withheld, the bigger your refund may be and you’ll avoid owing penalties.

If your W4 on file is in the old format (2019 or older), toggle "Use new Form W-4" to change the questions back to the previous form. Employees are currently not required to update it. However if you do need to update it for any reason, you must now use the new Form W-4.

The flat rate for Colorado withholding is 4.4% for 2024. There’s a deduction that gets taken off the annual wages before calculating the 4.4%: this is the Annual Withholding Allowance option in the calculator’s State and Local Taxes section. If it's left as 0, the calculation falls back to a default value based on the filing status set in that section. These values are defined in DR 1098 step 2a:

• Married filing jointly: $9,000
• Single and all others: $4,500

For example, if the gross weekly is $1,000 and filing status is single:
$1,000 x 52 = $52,000
$52,000 - $4,500 = $47,500
$47,500 x 4.4% = $2,090
$2,090 / 52 = $40.19

Colorado then rounds to the nearest dollar, so $40 is withheld.

SUI (State Unemployment Insurance), also known as SUTA (State Unemployment Tax Act), are payroll taxes that employers, and in some states employees, have to pay to their state unemployment fund. These contributions support unemployment payments for displaced workers.

In our paycheck calculators, SUI is used to refer to the unemployment tax paid by the employee. AK, NJ, and PA have an employee unemployment tax.

Find Colorado’s unemployment insurance tax rates in our Payroll Resources SUI section. Learn more about state unemployment taxes.

A very small but growing number of states (plus the District of Columbia) mandate paid leave for an employee’s own health condition: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Oregon, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, Washington, and Washington, DC.

• Employee pays in CT, NY
• Employer pays in DC
• Both pay in MA, WA

Find Colorado’s family leave insurance rates in our Colorado’s FLI section in Payroll Resources.

Explore deductions and credits available, such as contributions to retirement accounts, to potentially lower your taxable income.