Colorado Minimum Wage 2026: $15.16 Statewide, $19.29 in Denver

Colorado’s statewide minimum wage is $15.16 an hour in 2026 [1]. That’s the floor everywhere in the state. Three local governments go higher: Denver ($19.29), the City of Boulder ($16.82) and unincorporated Boulder County ($16.82) [3][4][5]. If you work in one of those places, the local rate is the one that counts.

How the statewide rate is set

The statewide rate changes on January 1 each year, and the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment publishes the new figure ahead of time. We’ll add the 2027 statewide rate here once we can confirm it on the state’s own site.

Tipped workers

A tipped employee in Colorado is someone who regularly gets more than $30 a month in tips [2]. Employers can pay these workers a cash wage of $12.14 an hour and count up to $3.02 an hour of tips toward the minimum [2].

The total still has to reach the full minimum. Cash wage plus tips must add up to at least $15.16 for every hour you work [2]. If tips fall short, the employer makes up the difference.

Local rules change the tipped numbers too:

• Denver: $16.27 an hour for tipped food and beverage workers in 2026, which assumes the employer takes the full $3.02 tip credit [3].
• City of Boulder: tips can count for no more than $3.02 an hour of a food and beverage worker’s pay [4].
• Unincorporated Boulder County: $13.80 an hour in 2026 and $14.41 from January 1, 2027 [5].

Local minimum wages

Denver. $19.29 an hour in 2026, rising to $19.84 on January 1, 2027. Denver adjusts its rate each year using the Consumer Price Index [3].

City of Boulder. $16.82 an hour in 2026 and $18.17 from January 1, 2027. Starting in 2028, Boulder’s rate rises each year with inflation in the Denver area [4].

Unincorporated Boulder County. $16.82 an hour in 2026 and $17.43 from January 1, 2027 [5]. This rate covers work in the parts of the county outside city and town limits. Employers based elsewhere must pay it to workers who put in 4 or more hours a week there [5]. The county’s property search tool shows whether an address is unincorporated [5].

If you’re paid less than you’re owed

Report it. In Denver, contact Denver Labor at 720-913-WAGE (9243) or wagecomplaints@denvergov.org [3]. In the City of Boulder, the Office of Human Rights investigates unpaid wage claims for work done inside city limits [4]. Statewide, the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment can investigate wage violations and order remedies [4].

Or sue. In 2025 the Colorado Supreme Court decided which deadline applies to minimum wage lawsuits. It held that the Wage Claim Act’s limits control: two years after the claim arises, or three years for a willful violation [6]. A claim filed five years after the violation was thrown out as too late [6].

Other states

Comparing Colorado with its neighbors? See the minimum wage in every state on BestAmerica.