Retiring in Colorado

Every figure below is sourced to Colorado’s own publications and dated. Estimates only, and not tax advice.

Retirement tax by state

What your state actually takes from a 401(k) withdrawal, a pension, and Social Security — in dollars, not a yes/no list.

Long-term index-fund growth after expense-ratio drag — and what your state takes from the gains at withdrawal.

Decided on the two rates that actually govern it — yours now, and yours at withdrawal, in the state you'll retire in rather than the one you're in.

2026 limits, employer match, the 60-63 super catch-up, and whether the Roth catch-up mandate applies to you.

When your RMDs start under SECURE 2.0, how much this year's is, and what missing it costs.

What a backdoor Roth conversion would actually cost you in tax — the pro-rata rule most calculators only describe.

The tax a leveraged rental owes inside a self-directed IRA — computed at trust rates, not the rate you'd assume.

401(k) and IRA withdrawals: Partly excluded; From age 65.
Social Security: Taxed above an income threshold; Below the threshold it is exempt, which is why a yes-or-no answer is usually wrong here.
Top marginal rate: 4.4%; A flat rate on all taxable income.
Tax year: 2025; Brackets are legislated and change on a fixed calendar, so the year matters.

Colorado's retirement relief is one shared allowance, not a stack: Social Security, private pensions, public pensions and 401(k)/IRA distributions all draw on the same $20,000 (ages 55-64) or $24,000 (65+) subtraction, and Social Security consumes it first.
Age 55 is the cliff that matters most. Under 55 a Colorado retiree gets nothing at all unless the income is a death benefit or military retirement pay.
The full Social Security deduction for those 65 and older has no income limit; the $75,000/$95,000 AGI limits apply only to the 55-64 band, and exceeding them drops that band back to the $20,000 cap rather than to zero.