Colorado Minimum Wage 2026: $14.81/hr Statewide, $18.81/hr in Denver

Colorado minimum wage is set by Amendment 70, a voter-approved constitutional amendment passed in 2016. The amendment raised the rate from $8.31/hr in 2016 to $12.00/hr by 2020, with annual inflation adjustments thereafter. Colorado is one of the few states that ties its tipped minimum wage to the full minimum wage — the tipped cash wage is $3.02 less than the full rate.

What Is the Colorado Minimum Wage in 2026?

$14.81 per hour, effective January 1, 2026. This is an inflation adjustment from the 2025 rate. The rate is calculated by the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment based on the Consumer Price Index for the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood metro area.

The state minimum wage has climbed steadily since Amendment 70's scheduled increases finished phasing in. Colorado's rate was $12.56/hr in 2022, $13.65/hr in 2023, and $14.42/hr in both 2024 and 2025 — the rate held flat across that one-year stretch because the underlying CPI reading showed almost no inflation, and Amendment 70 does not allow the minimum wage to fall even when cost-of-living growth is close to zero. For 2026, a larger CPI adjustment pushed the rate up to $14.81/hr, a gain of 39 cents over the prior year.

Colorado's Amendment 70 amended Article XVIII of the Colorado Constitution to establish a schedule of minimum wage increases and annual inflation adjustments. The amendment also set the tipped minimum wage at $3.00 less than the full minimum wage, creating one of the highest tipped cash wages in the country.

How Colorado's Annual CPI Adjustment Works

Unlike states where lawmakers vote each year on a new minimum wage, Colorado's rate moves automatically. Amendment 70 wrote the adjustment formula directly into the state constitution: each year, the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment compares the current Consumer Price Index reading for the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood metro area against the prior year's figure and adjusts the minimum wage by that same percentage, rounded to the nearest cent. The new rate takes effect January 1 and is typically announced in the preceding fall, once the relevant CPI data has been published.

Because the adjustment follows a constitutional formula rather than a legislative vote, Colorado's minimum wage can't be frozen, cut, or delayed by state lawmakers the way a statutory minimum wage can be in some other states — it can only rise or hold steady. That's also why a low-inflation stretch like 2024-to-2025 produced no increase at all, while a year with more price growth, like the move into 2026, pushed the rate higher.

What a Colorado Minimum Wage Paycheck Looks Like

For a full-time worker earning the standard Colorado minimum wage of $14.81/hr, pay works out to:

• Weekly (40 hours): $592.40
• Biweekly (80 hours): $1,184.80
• Monthly (173.33 hours): approximately $2,567.07
• Annually (2,080 hours): $30,804.80, rounded to $30,805

For a full-time worker earning Denver's $18.81/hr minimum wage, the same full-time schedule produces:

• Weekly (40 hours): $752.40
• Biweekly (80 hours): $1,504.80
• Monthly (173.33 hours): approximately $3,260.40
• Annually (2,080 hours): $39,124.80, rounded to $39,125

The gap between the two — exactly $4.00/hr, or $8,320 a year on a full-time schedule — is the practical cost difference between working just inside Denver's city limits versus working for an employer elsewhere in Colorado that pays only the state rate.

Denver Minimum Wage

Denver has its own minimum wage ordinance that is significantly higher than the state rate. At $18.81/hr in 2026, Denver's minimum wage is one of the highest city rates in the United States, behind only Seattle ($20.76/hr for large employers), SeaTac ($20.17/hr), and a few other Washington cities. Denver's rate applies to employees who work within Denver city limits — coverage generally follows where the work is physically performed, not where the employer is headquartered or where the employee lives. Outside Denver, Colorado does not currently have any other city or county with its own local minimum wage ordinance; every other municipality in the state follows the $14.81/hr statewide rate.

Colorado Tipped Minimum Wage

Colorado's tipped minimum wage is $11.79 per hour — $3.02 less than the full $14.81/hr rate. This is among the highest tipped cash wages of any state that still allows a tip credit, behind Hawaii ($12.75/hr), Arizona ($12.15/hr), and Florida ($10.98/hr). The gap is fixed by the state constitution, meaning the tipped wage rises in lockstep with the full minimum wage each year.

In practice, an employer can pay a tipped employee as little as $11.79/hr in direct cash wages, but only if tips make up the rest. For a 40-hour week, the employer's cash-wage obligation is $471.60, while tips need to cover at least $120.80 (40 hours multiplied by the $3.02 tip credit) to bring the worker up to the $592.40 that a non-tipped employee earning the full $14.81/hr would receive. If a server's tips fall short of that $120.80 in a given week, Colorado law requires the employer to make up the difference in cash — the tip credit is a maximum the employer is allowed to claim against wages, not a guarantee it's entitled to. Tipped employees working inside Denver are subject to the same tip-credit structure applied against the higher $18.81/hr city rate, though Denver does not publish a separate city-specific tipped minimum wage the way it does for its standard rate.

How Colorado Compares to Other Mountain West States

At $14.81/hr, Colorado has the highest minimum wage in the Mountain West region. Neighboring states: Arizona ($15.15/hr), New Mexico ($12.00/hr), Nevada ($12.00/hr for most employers), Utah ($7.25/hr), Wyoming ($7.25/hr), Kansas ($7.25/hr), Nebraska ($15.00/hr), Oklahoma ($7.25/hr). Colorado and Arizona are the regional leaders, while several neighboring states remain at the $7.25/hr federal floor.

That split reflects two different policy paths. Colorado, Arizona, and Nebraska all raise their minimum wage through voter-approved constitutional or statutory formulas, so their rates climb every year, or nearly every year, without requiring a legislative vote. Utah, Wyoming, and Kansas have no state-level increase mechanism at all — they default to the federal $7.25/hr minimum wage, which hasn't changed since 2009, and state law in each of the three blocks cities and counties from setting a higher local rate. New Mexico and Nevada sit in between: both have moved above the federal floor, but through legislative or regulatory action rather than an automatic inflation formula, so their rates increase less predictably than Colorado's. For a worker weighing job offers in neighboring Mountain West states, the difference between Colorado's $14.81/hr and Utah's or Wyoming's $7.25/hr amounts to more than $15,000 a year in full-time pay.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Colorado's minimum wage in 2026?

Colorado's statewide minimum wage is $14.81 per hour, effective January 1, 2026. Denver's local minimum wage is higher, at $18.81/hr.

How often does the Colorado minimum wage increase?

Every year, on January 1, based on the change in the Consumer Price Index for the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood metro area. The adjustment is automatic under Amendment 70 and doesn't require a legislative vote.

Do all Colorado cities pay Denver's $18.81/hr rate?

No. Denver is currently the only city in Colorado with its own local minimum wage ordinance. Every other city and county in the state follows the $14.81/hr statewide minimum wage.

What is Colorado's tipped minimum wage?

$11.79 per hour in direct cash wages, as long as tips bring the employee's total pay up to at least $14.81/hr. If tips don't cover the $3.02/hr tip credit, the employer must pay the difference.

Does Colorado's minimum wage apply to salaried employees?

Colorado's minimum wage itself applies to hourly, non-exempt workers. Salaried employees can be classified as exempt if they earn at least $55,000 per year ($1,057.69 per week) and meet the duties test for an executive, administrative, or professional role — Colorado sets its own exempt salary threshold rather than defaulting to the federal one.

Is Colorado's minimum wage higher than the federal minimum wage?

Yes, significantly. The federal minimum wage has been $7.25/hr since 2009. Colorado's $14.81/hr rate is more than double that, and Denver's $18.81/hr rate is more than two and a half times the federal floor.

Will Colorado's minimum wage go up again in 2027?

Most likely, unless inflation is essentially flat. Colorado's rate has increased in most years since Amendment 70's scheduled increases phased in, and the 2027 rate will be calculated from CPI data and announced in late 2026, ahead of its January 1, 2027 effective date.

Related: States with the Highest Minimum Wage · Tipped Minimum Wage Explained · Colorado Minimum Wage Data Page