Colorado Higher Education Outcome Report

• Institutions

  35

  183,291 students enrolled

• Graduates / Year

  ~22,844

  Estimated annual completers

• Median Earnings

  66th pct

  $51,842

  17th of 50 states

• Mobility Score

  33rd pct

  1.3%

  31st of 46 states

• Talent Retention

  64th pct

  72%

  First-year retention rate

• Value Ratio

  54th pct

  2.8x

  Earnings per net-price dollar

1. 1

   Colorado graduates earn a median of $51,842 a decade after entry, 6% above the national state average, ranking 17th of 50 states.

2. 2

   Upward mobility sits mid-pack: the state's institutions move bottom-quintile students into the top quintile at a 1.3% rate, in the 33rd percentile nationally.

3. 3

   Degree production is led by Business and Social Sciences, which together account for 39% of graduates. That diversified mix sets what the state's labor pipeline can supply.

4. 4

   Engineering is the standout sector: graduates earn $69,309, +34.4% versus the national median. That premium points to a real wage advantage rather than sheer volume.

5. 5

   On value, Colorado returns 2.8x earnings per dollar of net price, roughly average cost-to-outcome efficiency in the country.

6. 6

   The state's strongest mobility engine is Colorado School of Mines, which moves bottom-quintile students into the top quintile at a 2.5% rate, the highest in Colorado.

• Earnings vs National

  ▲ +0.7%

  Median graduate earnings in Colorado are above the national average by 1%.

• Cost vs National

  ▼ +3.2%

  Net price in Colorado is higher than the national average by 3%.

• Mobility Rate

  ▼ -0.35pp

  Upward mobility rate is 0.4 percentage points below the national average.

• Completion Rate

  ▲ +0.6pp

  Colorado's graduation rate is 0.6 percentage points above the national average.

• Best Value

  ▲ 12x

  Top value school: Technical College of the Rockies ($45,516 earnings vs $3,796 net price).

• Low-Income Access

  ▼ 9.2%

  9% of students come from bottom-quintile households, a measure of how open the state's colleges are to low-income students.

Business (26% of graduates) and Social Sciences (13% of graduates) dominate Colorado's higher education output. Graduates in the top field earn a weighted average of $52,385.

• Business

  26%

  $52,385 avg

• Social Sciences

  13%

  $52,173 avg

• Healthcare

  11%

  $53,222 avg

• Sciences

  9%

  $59,797 avg

• Engineering

  9%

  $83,634 avg

Colorado's highest-ROI degree cluster is Trades (Construction Trades), where graduates average $41,369 against a net cost of $7,941, a 5.2x return. That's -19.8% vs the national median.

• Construction Trades

  5.2x
  $41,369 earnings · $7,941 net -19.8% vs natl

• Precision Production

  4.8x
  $39,537 earnings · $8,206 net -23.3% vs natl

• Culinary & Personal Services

  4.3x
  $43,869 earnings · $10,165 net -14.9% vs natl

• Criminal Justice

  3.3x
  $51,635 earnings · $15,528 net +0.1% vs natl

• Humanities

  3.2x
  $53,106 earnings · $16,374 net +3% vs natl

• Mathematics & Statistics

  3.2x
  $57,468 earnings · $17,933 net +11.4% vs natl

Three lenses on Colorado's talent pipeline: which fields produce the most graduates, which command the highest earnings, and where high-pay demand outruns local supply.

Colorado's colleges post an average mobility rate of 1.3%, which puts the state in the 33rd percentile nationally. 7% of students arrive from bottom-quintile households. Cross-class social connectedness averages 1.60, a proxy for the networks that help graduates convert a degree into mobility.

Colorado's Engineering programs produce graduates earning $69,309, +34.4% relative to the national median.

• Business

  26% of enrollment
  $53,619 +4% vs natl

  19 schools

• Social Sciences

  13% of enrollment
  $54,440 +5.6% vs natl

  15 schools

• Healthcare

  11% of enrollment
  $49,272 -4.5% vs natl

  17 schools

• Sciences

  9% of enrollment
  $61,208 +18.7% vs natl

  10 schools

• Engineering

  9% of enrollment
  $69,309 +34.4% vs natl

  6 schools

• Technology

  8% of enrollment
  $59,119 +14.6% vs natl

  12 schools

Colorado's higher education system includes 6 research-oriented, 7 specialized, 22 regional institutions. Each group plays a different role in the state's outcomes.

• 🔬

  6

  Research Universities

• 🏛️

  22

  Regional Universities

• 🎯

  7

  Specialized Institutions

26% of Colorado's colleges charge under $15K net. Graduates of those schools average $46,772 at 10 years.

• NET PRICE UNDER $15K

  7

  26% of schools

  Avg earnings: $46,772

• NET PRICE $15K–$25K

  10

  37% of schools

  Avg earnings: $51,278

• NET PRICE $25K–$40K

  10

  37% of schools

  Avg earnings: $57,089

Schools ranked by median graduate earnings 10 years after enrolling.

1. 01 Colorado School of Mines Golden, CO $97,335
2. 02 Denver College of Nursing Denver, CO $81,809
3. 03 Colorado State University Global Denver, CO $76,813
4. 04 Regis University Denver, CO $72,105
5. 05 University of Denver Denver, CO $71,155
6. 06 University of Colorado Boulder Boulder, CO $69,738
7. 07 Colorado College Colorado Springs, CO $65,222
8. 08 University of Colorado Denver/Anschutz Medical Campus Denver, CO $64,270

What graduates in Colorado earn relative to what they pay for college.

Every figure on this page is derived from public federal data and read within its regional and economic context. Information Gain Policy →