Colorado by the numbers
In Colorado, the median worker earns $58,210 a year, the typical home is worth $502,200 and carries $2,448 of property tax, and the average household pays $109 a month for electricity at 16.16¢ per kilowatt-hour.
West Western Interconnection Regulated monopoly
Energy
Colorado has committed to retiring its coal fleet on an accelerated schedule and replacing it with wind, solar, storage and gas. The replacement resources have low or zero fuel cost, but they are new, and new assets carry full capital cost in rate base while the retiring plants often still have undepreciated value to recover.
The state has also built substantial transmission, including a large new backbone connecting eastern plains wind to Front Range load. Wildfire mitigation has become a significant and growing expense since the Marshall Fire focused attention on utility-related ignition risk.
Working in Colorado's favour: an excellent wind and solar resource, a growing customer base to spread costs across, and moderate weather-driven consumption compared with the South or the Upper Midwest.
Averaged across the twelve months to May 2026, Colorado households used 664 kilowatt-hours a month and paid $109. At the state median wage that is about 3.9 hours of work a month to keep the lights on. For heating, gas is still cheaper to run than a heat pump here, by about $4.46 per million BTU.
Work and pay
The median Colorado worker earned $58,210 in 2024, 17.6% above the national median. What distinguishes a state's labour market is rarely its biggest occupations, which are retail and food service everywhere, but what it has disproportionately.
| Occupation | Concentration | Median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Cartographers and Photogrammetrists | 5.77× | $78,030 |
| Atmospheric and Space Scientists | 5.75× | $106,310 |
| Information and Record Clerks, All Other | 4.94× | $51,070 |
| Plant and System Operators, All Other | 4.54× | $52,210 |
| Insurance Appraisers, Auto Damage | 4.06× | $69,560 |
Property tax
The median Colorado homeowner pays $2,448 a year on a home worth $502,200, an effective rate of 0.49% against a national 0.98%. Nobody sets that rate. It is what falls out of county, city, school district and special district levies applied to an assessed value, so the state figure is a weighted average of 52 counties rather than a posted number.
Cost of living
Prices in Colorado run at 103.1 where the national average is 100, ranking it #13 of 51. Goods sit at 98.7, which is close to national almost everywhere because most goods are shipped and priced nationally. Rents sit at 127.4, and that is where states actually separate from one another. A median wage of $58,210 therefore buys what $56,460 buys nationally.
Metro areas priced separately: Denver-Aurora-Centennial (105.8) , Boulder (105.2) , Fort Collins-Loveland (101.1) , Colorado Springs (100.7) , Greeley (100.2) .
Housing
House prices in Colorado fell 0.6% over the year to 2026 Q2, against a median across all states of +2.7%. Over ten years the index is +83.0%. They remain 1.2% below the peak set in 2024.
Metro areas tracked here: Colorado Springs (-0.9%) , Denver-Aurora-Centennial (-1.1%) .
Who supplies the power
34 utilities report residential service in Colorado, together serving 2.5 million customers. Regulated monopoly.
Colorado: common questions
What does it cost to live in Colorado?
Prices overall run at 103.1 against a national average of 100, with rents at 127.4. The typical home is worth $502,200 and carries $2,448 a year in property tax, an effective rate of 0.49% against a national 0.98%. Electricity averages $109 a month at 16.16¢ per kilowatt-hour. Against that, the median wage is $58,210.
What is the property tax rate in Colorado?
The effective rate is 0.49% of home value, from a median bill of $2,448. It is set locally rather than by the state, so the figure is a weighted outcome across 52 counties. County by county rates.
Does a salary go further in Colorado?
The median wage of $58,210 buys what $56,460 buys nationally, once local prices are taken out. A state paying above the national median while charging above it for housing can leave a household no better off, and this is the arithmetic that shows which side of that line Colorado falls on.
Is Colorado expensive for electricity?
It ranks #28 of 51 jurisdictions on price at 16.16¢ per kilowatt-hour, -12.4% against the U.S. average. On the actual bill it ranks 49 of 51, because households there use 664 kWh a month against a national 871.
What is the median salary in Colorado?
$58,210 across all occupations, about $27.99 an hour, covering 2,891,210 wage and salary workers as of 2024.
Who supplies electricity in Colorado?
34 utilities report residential service, the largest being Public Service Co of Colorado with 1.4 million customers. Regulated monopoly.
Electricity May 2026, gas 2024, utilities 2024, wages 2024. All figures from federal statistical agencies. Methodology · Sources