What payroll taxes do Colorado employers pay?

Colorado employers pay the employer half of FICA (6.2% Social Security plus 1.45% Medicare), federal FUTA on the first $7,000 of wages, Colorado State Unemployment Insurance on the state wage base, and the employer share of the FAMLI paid-leave premium. These stack on top of gross wages.

What is the Colorado SUI wage base and rate?

Colorado charges unemployment insurance only on the first $27,200 of each employee's wages for 2024. New employers typically pay around 1.7%, while established employers receive an experience-based rate set annually by the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment.

How much is the FAMLI employer share?

The total FAMLI premium is 0.9% of wages, split evenly between employer and employee, so the employer share is 0.45%. Employers with fewer than 10 employees nationwide are not required to pay the employer portion, though their workers still contribute the employee share.

What is the effective FUTA rate?

FUTA is nominally 6.0% on the first $7,000 of wages, but employers who pay their state unemployment tax on time receive a 5.4% credit, dropping the effective rate to 0.6% — a maximum of $42 per employee per year.

Does this include the employee's own deductions?

No. This calculator shows only the employer-side cost that sits on top of the employee's wages. The employee separately pays their own FICA, federal and Colorado income tax, and FAMLI employee share through withholding.

Colorado Employer Payroll Tax Calculator

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The Colorado employer payroll tax calculator totals every employer-side tax — FICA, FUTA, Colorado SUI, and the FAMLI employer share — so you can see the fully loaded cost of hiring in Colorado, not just the headline salary.

How it works

On top of an employee’s gross wages, a Colorado employer owes:

Employer FICA — Social Security at 6.2% up to the annual wage base, plus Medicare at 1.45% on all wages.
FUTA — 0.6% effective on the first $7,000 of wages after the standard 5.4% state credit, capped at $42 per employee.
Colorado SUI — your assigned rate (new employers ≈ 1.7%) on the first $27,200 of wages for 2024.
FAMLI employer share — 0.45% of wages (employers with fewer than 10 workers owe $0).

The calculator adds these and reports the total, the effective rate on wages, and the fully loaded employee cost.

Worked example

An employee paid $55,000 per year, new-employer SUI of 1.7%, 10+ employees:

Tax	Amount
Social Security (6.2%)	$3,410
Medicare (1.45%)	$797.50
FUTA (0.6% on $7,000)	$42
Colorado SUI (1.7% on $27,200)	$462.40
FAMLI employer (0.45%)	$247.50
Total	~$4,959

That is roughly a 9% add-on, so the fully loaded cost is about $59,959.

Notes and tips

Your real SUI rate is experience-rated and set yearly — a single layoff can raise it, so use your official rate notice rather than the default.
FUTA and SUI taxes stop once the employee crosses each wage cap, so the effective rate on high earners is lower than on the first few thousand dollars.
Small employers (fewer than 10 workers) can toggle off the FAMLI employer share, which they are exempt from paying.