Tech

IT Manager Salary in Colorado (2026)

The average IT Manager in Colorado earns around $185,000/year. After taxes, your estimated take-home is $130,313/year ($10,859/month).

Take-Home Pay Breakdown

CategoryAmount
Annual Take-Home Pay
$130,313
Monthly Take-Home Pay
$10,859
Biweekly Take-Home Pay
$5,012
Hourly Take-Home Pay

based on 2,080 hrs/year

$63/hr
Federal Tax
$33,134
State Tax
$7,432
FICA Taxes
$14,122
Effective Tax Rate

total taxes ÷ gross salary

29.56%
Estimates only — not tax advice. · Full disclaimer →

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IT Manager Salary Ranges in Colorado

Entry Level (0–3 yrs)

$145,000

/year

See tax breakdown →

Mid Level (3–7 yrs)

$185,000

/year

See tax breakdown →

Senior Level (7+ yrs)

$325,000

/year

See tax breakdown →

Not all IT Managers earn the same — not even close

Colorado's IT management market is anchored by UCHealth IT (Denver-area ~30K employees, academic medical center IT), Lockheed Martin Space Systems Denver (the country's largest space technology employer, ~14K Denver-area employees including substantial cleared IT), DaVita HQ Denver (Fortune 500 dialysis, ~25K global employees), Ball Aerospace Boulder, Charter Communications HQ Denver-area, Western Union Englewood, plus the substantial Front Range data center cluster build-out. Aurora + Boulder + Colorado Springs round out the regional IT employer mix.

CIO / SVP IT (Fortune 500)

$345,000–$695,000+ TC

DaVita CIO · UCHealth CIO · Charter Communications senior IT · executive comp + equity

VP IT / IT Director (Cleared)

$245,000–$395,000

Cleared VP at Lockheed Martin Space + Ball Aerospace + Northrop Grumman CO · TS/SCI + clearance premium

VP IT / IT Director (Commercial)

$215,000–$355,000

DaVita VP IT · UCHealth IT director · Charter senior · Western Union IT director

Senior IT Manager (Infrastructure / Cloud)

$135,000–$195,000

Most common senior IT band · Front Range data center cluster · cloud architecture leadership

Senior IT Manager (Security / CISO Track)

$145,000–$215,000

CISO track at DaVita HIPAA · UCHealth · Charter Comm · cleared CISO at Lockheed Space premium

Senior IT Manager (Cleared Aerospace)

$155,000–$235,000

Lockheed Space + Ball Aerospace + Northrop Grumman · classified IT specialty · TS/SCI premium

Senior IT Manager (Application Dev)

$130,000–$190,000

Application + product development at DaVita, Charter, Western Union, UCHealth

IT Manager (Mid-Level, 5-8 yrs)

$100,000–$148,000

Functional IT management at mid-cap CO firms · transitioning to senior IT band

Senior IT Manager (Healthcare)

$125,000–$185,000

UCHealth Anschutz IT · Children's Colorado · HealthONE · HIPAA + Epic specialty

Senior IT Manager (Defense / Cleared)

$155,000–$235,000

Lockheed Space Systems Denver IT · Ball Aerospace · Northrop · cleared work · TS clearance premium

Worth knowing: Lockheed Martin Space Systems Denver is the structural depth feature most national IT-management surveys understate for CO. Lockheed Space (Fortune 100 defense, ~14K Denver-area employees, the country's largest space technology employer by employee count) operates substantial classified IT + space systems engineering + satellite operations IT at the Waterton Canyon + Deer Creek campuses (south of Denver). Senior cleared IT managers at Lockheed Space + Ball Aerospace Boulder + Northrop Grumman + Raytheon Aurora routinely clear $185-295K TC with TS/SCI clearance premium. DaVita HQ Denver (Fortune 500 dialysis, ~25K global employees) operates substantial HIPAA-compliant healthcare IT. UCHealth IT (the University of Colorado-affiliated health system, ~30K employees including the Anschutz Medical Campus Aurora flagship) anchors academic medical center IT leadership. The Front Range data center cluster (Microsoft Sherman/Castle Rock, Google Pueblo, AWS expanding) drives mission-critical data center IT leadership. CO's 4.25% flat tax (post-HB22-1015 phase-down) plus TABOR refunds returning $400-1,200 in good years plus 0.55% effective property tax creates an unusually favorable senior-IT tax structure. No state estate tax. The combined effective at $185K senior IT manager comp in CO is 4.25% with TABOR rebate offset — substantially better than peer-state IL or NM.

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