Salary Needed to Live Comfortably in Colorado Springs, CO

To live comfortably in Colorado Springs, you'll need to earn $107,920 a year, which works out to $8,993 in monthly take-home pay. "Comfortably" here means the 50/30/20 framework: your needs are covered, you're putting something toward savings, and you have real discretionary spending, not just survival math. That's not a luxury budget; it's a stable one.

That figure runs $14,932 above the national average salary needed of $92,988, which tells you something important. Colorado Springs has been absorbing population growth from Denver's spillover for years, and housing costs have followed. Colorado does levy a flat state income tax, so unlike residents of Texas or Florida, you don't get a zero-rate tailwind on your gross pay. The rate isn't dramatic, but it means the gap between your gross salary offer and your actual monthly purchasing power is wider than it looks on a job posting.

Housing claims the largest share of your budget at $1,735 a month, reflecting a market that has repriced sharply since 2020 as remote workers and military families competed for the same inventory near Fort Carson and Peterson Space Force Base. That figure is meaningful context: it's not a luxury apartment, it's the going rate for a functional rental in a mid-tier neighborhood.

Transport at $1,215 a month is the number that catches most newcomers off guard. Mountain Metro Transit, the city's bus system, covers a fraction of the metro's geography and runs infrequent schedules, which means car ownership isn't optional for most households. You're budgeting for a vehicle payment, insurance, fuel, and maintenance, not a transit pass. That's a structural cost, not a lifestyle choice.

Food runs $500 a month, which is achievable if you're shopping at King Soopers rather than specialty grocers. Healthcare lands at $548, a figure that reflects Colorado's generally competitive insurance market but also the reality that the Springs has fewer large hospital systems than Denver, which can limit in-network options depending on your plan.

Utilities come in at $343 a month, and that number deserves a seasonal read. Colorado Springs Utilities serves the city, and your bill will swing noticeably across the year. Winters at 6,035 feet elevation push heating costs up from October through March, while summers stay mild enough that air conditioning rarely runs at full load for more than a few weeks. Budget heavier in winter and you'll likely come out ahead of the annual average by July. Other necessities add $156, rounding out a budget where transport and housing together consume nearly a third of your take-home.

Colorado Springs stretches across a wide north-south corridor, and where you land on that corridor has a direct effect on what you pay and how long you spend in your car.

Briargate, in the far north, sits near the Powers Boulevard tech and retail corridor and draws higher rents because of its newer housing stock, proximity to employers like USAA and Lockheed Martin, and access to well-rated schools in Academy District 20. You'll pay a premium to live there, but you may shorten your commute if your employer is in that corridor.

Fountain and Security-Widefield, south of the city proper, offer meaningfully lower rents and more starter-home inventory. The trade-off is a longer drive into downtown Colorado Springs or to the north-side employment centers, and Mountain Metro Transit doesn't bridge that gap reliably. If you're working remotely, the south side's cost advantage is real. If you're commuting daily, the fuel and time costs erode the savings faster than the rent difference suggests.

Old Colorado City and the Westside neighborhoods offer a middle path with character, though proximity to the mountains and Manitou Springs keeps demand, and prices, steadier than you'd expect.

The salary gap here is the sharpest analytical fact on this page. The median local salary is $52,710, and a comfortable life requires $107,920. That's a $55,210 gap, which means the local job market, taken at its median, covers roughly half of what you'd need to live without financial stress. That's not a rounding error; it's a structural mismatch.

Who does well here? Remote workers earning salaries benchmarked to coastal or Denver markets are the obvious fit. Military households with base housing allowances and commissary access can sidestep the two biggest cost drivers. Defense contractors, cybersecurity professionals, and aerospace workers tied to the Space Force and NORAD ecosystem will find that local employers in those sectors pay above the local median, sometimes well above it.

Who will find it a stretch? Anyone taking a locally-benchmarked job in healthcare support, retail, or education will feel the gap immediately. Early-career workers without a remote income or a dual-income household are looking at a budget that requires real trade-offs, likely on housing location or transport costs, not on discretionary spending.

The one factor the cost data doesn't capture is quality of life density. Colorado Springs offers direct access to Pikes Peak, Garden of the Gods, and a genuine outdoor culture that costs nothing to use, which matters if that's what you're moving for.