Live in Wyoming, work in Colorado
State income tax on wages · single filer · tax year 2026
Colorado takes
$1,932
on wages earned there
Wyoming takes
$0
after the credit it gives
Both together
$1,932
state tax for the year
Cost of the line
$1,932
a year, above working at home
What crossing the line costs
costs youColorado charges more than Wyoming would, and Wyoming only credits you up to its own bill — so the difference stays with you. Solid is what you actually pay; the faded part of the Wyoming bar is the credit it hands back. State income tax only — federal and payroll tax apply on top, and a city wage tax may too.
Which state taxes you, and what it costs
- Crossing this line costs money. Colorado taxes what you earn there. Wyoming taxes you too, because you live there, and then gives you credit for what Colorado already took. The catch is the size of that credit. It stops at what Wyoming would have charged on its own. So you end up paying the bigger of the two bills, which here means $1,932 a year instead of $0. The commute itself accounts for $1,932 of that.
- This is not one of the country's big crossings. 5,472 jobs in Colorado are held by people living in Wyoming. The tax rules do not care about that — they are the same ones that apply to the busiest routes in the country. What can differ is how used to the paperwork your employer is.
- Colorado taxes wages earned inside its borders by non-residents, and Wyoming taxes its residents on the same wages wherever they are earned. The resident credit resolves the overlap but does not erase it: Wyoming credits tax paid to Colorado only up to what it would itself have charged on that income, so the commuter settles at the higher of the two liabilities rather than the sum. At the reference salary that is $1,932 against $0 for the same earner working at home — $1,932 attributable to the state line itself. ⚠️ The corollary is the part most readers have backwards: moving to a cheaper home state while keeping the job in Colorado changes the split between the two treasuries and not the total.
- This is a smaller corridor by national standards — 5,472 jobs in Colorado held by Wyoming residents — but the rules that govern it are the same rules that govern the largest ones. Corridor size changes how familiar an employer's payroll department is with the paperwork, never the tax treatment.
Where the money goes
A $75,000 salary
- Federal income tax$7,670
- Social Security and Medicare$5,738
- Yours$61,593
| Federal income tax10.23% | $7,670 |
|---|---|
| Social Security and Medicare7.65% | $5,738 |
| Yours82.12% | $61,593 |
Which rung you are on
A $75,000 salary
| This rung starts at | $66,500 |
|---|---|
| Next rung starts at | $121,800 |
| Room before it | $46,800 |
Federal only, measured on gross pay — so the first rung is what the standard deduction covers.
The arithmetic, step by step
| Colorado takes, on wages earned there | $1,932 |
|---|---|
| Wyoming charges its residents | $0 |
| Less the credit Wyoming gives | $0 |
| Total state tax | $1,932 |
| If you also worked in Wyoming | $0 |
| Difference | $1,932 |
On a reference salary of $60,000 a year, single filer. Both states run progressive schedules, so the figures do not simply scale — use the tool above for your own salary.
What this page does not cover
- City wage taxes are not in these numbers. A few places charge them, and where they do the money is real. If your job in Colorado is inside a city that taxes workers, add that on top. Where it is not, the state figures above are the whole of it for Wyoming residents.
- The figures take the simple case: one job, in Colorado, worked in person. Money from several states makes the credit a proportion instead of a cap. Working remotely from Wyoming can pull you under a different rule entirely, depending on the state.
- Sixty thousand a year is the assumption behind these amounts, chosen because nobody publishes average pay for a route between two states. At your own salary the numbers shift. The conclusion about which of Wyoming and Colorado takes more usually does not, but the size of the difference can.
- These figures cover the STATE layer only. City and municipal wage taxes sit on top of them and are not included: a commuter into Philadelphia pays its wage tax on top of anything here, and Ohio's municipalities run their own credit system, which this site models in its own families. New York City, by contrast, taxes only its residents, so a commuter into it adds nothing at the city level. Whether Colorado or Wyoming carries a local layer is a separate question from the state arithmetic above.
- The arithmetic assumes all wages are earned in Colorado and that there is no other income. That matters for the credit: where income comes from several states, Wyoming limits the credit to the share of its own tax attributable to the Colorado portion, computed as a ratio rather than the straightforward cap used above. It also assumes days are worked in Colorado rather than remotely — several states tax a non-resident's remote days as though they were worked at the employer's location, which reverses the usual expectation and is handled on this site's reciprocity pages.
- Dollar amounts are computed at a stated reference salary of sixty thousand rather than a corridor wage average, which no published source provides per state pair. Because both states' liabilities and the credit between them are functions of the same income, the direction of the Wyoming to Colorado comparison holds at other salaries even though the amounts do not — with one qualification worth stating, that a progressive schedule can change the SIZE of the gap at higher incomes, and in Colorado's case a bracket crossed on one side and not the other is exactly where that happens.
Questions people ask
Do I pay state tax twice, to Wyoming and Colorado?
You file in both states, but you do not pay the full amount to both. Wyoming credits the tax Colorado collected, capped at its own charge on that income. The practical result is one bill at the higher of the two levels: $1,932 for the year.
Would moving out of Wyoming lower my state tax if I keep working in Colorado?
Not while you work in Colorado. That state's claim comes from where the work happens. Wyoming is the one giving ground, through the credit, and a cheaper home state gives less ground rather than costing you less. The number that matters is set by Colorado.
Do I have to file tax returns in both Wyoming and Colorado?
Expect two. Living in Wyoming means filing there on everything you earn. Working in Colorado usually means filing there as well, on the part you earned inside it. The second one is often how the credit gets claimed, so skipping it can cost you money you are owed.
What if I work from home in Wyoming some days instead of going to Colorado?
Working from home usually moves that day's pay out of Colorado and into Wyoming alone. A handful of states disagree and tax remote days as if you had commuted. This page assumes you actually travel to Colorado, so if a lot of your week is at home the split will differ from what you see here.
How is liability allocated between residence and work state on the same wages?
Both jurisdictions assert a claim on the same wages — Colorado on a source basis, Wyoming on residence. The residence state grants a credit for tax paid to the source state, limited to the residence state's own liability on that income. Net combined liability therefore equals the greater of the two liabilities rather than their sum, $1,932 at the reference salary, and the split between the two treasuries is the only thing the credit changes.
Does changing residence reduce combined liability while the work state is unchanged?
No, while the source state is unchanged. Colorado's claim arises from where the services are performed and is unaffected by residence. Because the residence credit is capped at the residence state's own liability, combined liability equals the greater of the two — so substituting a lower-tax residence reduces the residence-state component toward zero while leaving the total at Colorado's level. The binding variable is the work location, not the home one.
What filing obligations arise in each state on this corridor?
Generally two. Wyoming requires a resident return reporting all income; Colorado requires a non-resident return reporting the income sourced to it, which is also the mechanism by which the resident credit is substantiated. ⚠️ A filing obligation is distinct from a liability: a reciprocity exemption or a zero net position removes tax without necessarily removing the return, and the non-resident return is frequently what establishes the credit claimed on the resident one.
How do remote working days affect sourcing between these two states?
Ordinarily wages are sourced to where the services are performed, so days worked remotely from Wyoming fall outside Colorado's jurisdiction and the source-state apportionment shrinks accordingly. ⛔ The exception is the "convenience of the employer" rule, which several states apply: a non-resident's remote days are sourced to the employer's location unless the remote work is required by the employer rather than chosen by the employee. The figures on this page model in-person attendance in Colorado throughout.