Top 100 highest-paying jobs in Colorado

Table 1 compares the top 100 highest-paying jobs in Colorado, ranked by annual average salary. For each job, the table displays the number of employees with that job, as well as the job's entry-level salary. (The entry-level salary is calculated based on the 10% of paid workers with the lowest salaries.)

Based on the table, we see that the highest-paying jobs in Colorado are those of general internal medicine physician, with an average annual salary of $225,570. The second highest-paying jobs are those of athletes and sports competitors, with an average salary of $213,980.

All of the shown salary and employment information for Colorado has been computed using data published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in April 2023. Notably, the highest-paying occupations change from year to year. Tables 2, 3, and 4 show the top 10 highest-paying occupations in Colorado in 2021, 2020, and 2019.

Table 1. Top 100 highest-paying jobs in Colorado (2022 survey)

Rank	Job Description	Average Salary i	Entry Level Salary i	No. of Empl i
1	General Internal Medicine Physicians	$225,570	$125,110	1,030
2	Athletes and Sports Competitors	$213,980	$48,440	360
3	Family Medicine Physicians	$212,210	$84,990	3,520
4	Physicians, Pathologists	$196,540	$63,680	70
5	Dermatologists	$192,120	$100,920	530
6	Nurse Anesthetists	$184,460	$135,280	430
7	General Pediatricians	$179,880	$78,230	470
8	Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers	$175,330	$104,020	4,810
9	Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrates	$174,650	$152,670	620
10	Chief Executives	$171,990	$81,670	700
11	Architectural and Engineering Managers	$170,800	$128,480	3,550
12	Ophthalmologists, Except Pediatric	$169,040	$148,950	140
13	Computer and Information Systems Managers	$168,800	$117,380	11,150
14	Financial Managers	$168,400	$107,140	11,230
15	Marketing Managers	$164,990	$103,170	6,110
16	Sales Managers	$162,660	$97,710	9,180
17	Air Traffic Controllers	$159,580	$78,400	680
18	Compensation and Benefits Managers	$157,810	$105,760	190
19	All Other Managers	$153,920	$97,360	12,640
20	Podiatrists	$151,110	$57,820	150
21	Advertising and Promotions Managers	$149,990	$106,020	250
22	Medical Dosimetrists	$148,550	$126,940	40
23	Purchasing Managers	$147,510	$103,450	840
24	Human Resources Managers	$147,500	$96,610	2,860
25	Lawyers	$147,280	$74,400	15,420
26	Natural Sciences Managers	$139,320	$94,350	1,330
27	Public Relations Managers	$137,490	$90,000	910
28	Petroleum Engineers	$136,980	$83,240	920
29	Pharmacists	$136,100	$64,600	4,990
30	Industrial Production Managers	$134,790	$91,090	1,240
31	Computer Network Architects	$132,970	$79,500	10,570
32	Database Architects	$132,360	$102,390	4,580
33	Administrative Services Managers	$132,330	$80,450	1,770
34	Training and Development Managers	$131,740	$84,150	670
35	Computer Hardware Engineers	$131,280	$81,460	4,000
36	Physicists	$130,640	$104,680	1,000
37	Sales Engineers	$130,120	$75,410	1,680
38	Software Developers	$129,920	$80,870	40,930
39	Aerospace Engineers	$129,890	$84,790	3,680
40	Fundraising Managers	$129,260	$79,590	410
41	Optometrists	$128,950	$64,430	690
42	General Dentists	$128,820	$59,990	2,580
43	Actuaries	$128,490	$79,710	530
44	General and Operations Managers	$123,950	$60,060	46,730
45	Physician Assistants	$122,640	$91,040	2,770
46	Medical and Health Services Managers	$120,820	$75,210	6,930
47	Nurse Practitioners	$118,590	$85,080	3,630
48	Electronics Engineers (Non Computer)	$118,510	$79,910	7,690
49	Engineers, All Other	$117,720	$71,230	2,420
50	Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Managers	$114,820	$77,170	1,610
51	Computer Occupations, All Other	$114,420	$67,640	8,020
52	Other Physical Scientists	$114,420	$37,670	770
53	Aerospace Engineering and Operations Technicians	$113,340	$76,660	300
54	Computer and Information Research Scientists	$112,220	$80,290	260
55	Mathematicians	$111,860	$51,480	70
56	First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives	$111,070	$74,450	2,130
57	Administrative Law Judges, Adjudicators, and Hearing Officers	$110,970	$69,970	180
58	Power Distributors and Dispatchers	$110,160	$66,120	120
59	Computer Systems Analysts	$109,800	$75,920	9,410
60	Information Security Analysts	$109,610	$64,240	5,820
61	Postsecondary Forestry and Conservation Science Teachers	$108,230	$78,970	80
62	Electrical and Electronics Repairers, Powerhouse, Substation, and Relay	$107,870	$73,860	310
63	Database Administrators	$107,780	$58,500	2,200
64	Other Psychologists	$107,490	$61,200	320
65	Nurse Midwives	$107,380	$99,970	130
66	Genetic Counselors	$106,800	$86,520	50
67	Geological Technicians, Except Hydrologic Technicians	$105,340	$37,780	480
68	Mining and Geological Engineers	$105,280	$59,550	320
69	Medical Scientists, Except Epidemiologists	$105,000	$63,560	2,110
70	Geoscientists (Except Hydrologists and Geographers)	$105,000	$49,610	2,260
71	Chemical Engineers	$104,910	$67,060	660
72	Electrical Engineers	$104,680	$75,780	3,540
73	Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers	$104,520	$65,870	5,430
74	Elevator Installers and Repairers	$104,480	$62,080	580
75	Astronomers	$103,680	$33,280	360
76	Facilities Managers	$103,230	$63,180	1,450
77	Data Scientists	$103,200	$62,140	3,540
78	Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors	$103,110	$81,210	250
79	Elementary and Secondary School Education Administrators	$103,050	$70,190	4,940
80	Art Directors	$102,990	$61,430	550
81	Materials Engineers	$102,660	$57,450	470
82	School Psychologists	$102,380	$79,240	1,250
83	Economists	$102,070	$62,870	250
84	Emergency Management Directors	$101,170	$62,080	150
85	Computer Programmers	$101,050	$58,260	2,140
86	Construction Managers	$100,960	$63,120	11,050
87	Speech-Language Pathologists	$100,580	$72,240	4,330
88	Personal Financial Advisors	$100,410	$51,390	6,550
89	Other Education Administrators	$100,260	$59,140	870
90	Radiation Therapists	$100,260	$77,610	330
91	Mechanical Engineers	$100,200	$65,540	5,260
92	Electrical Power-Line Installers and Repairers	$100,020	$51,910	2,350
93	Network and Computer Systems Administrators	$99,740	$61,280	10,350
94	Commercial Pilots	$99,680	$61,370	1,380
95	Labor Relations Specialists	$99,550	$50,400	630
96	Petroleum Pump System Operators, Refinery Operators, and Gaugers	$99,410	$67,100	510
97	Atmospheric and Space Scientists	$99,320	$64,210	1,050
98	Postsecondary Education Administrators	$99,280	$63,460	1,700
99	Music Directors and Composers	$99,210	$52,950	100
100	Industrial Engineers	$98,470	$65,520	4,960

Table 2. Top 10 highest-paying jobs in Colorado – 2021 survey

Rank	Job Description	Average Salary i
1	Podiatrists	$185,080
2	Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrates	$171,060
3	Ophthalmologists, Except Pediatric	$169,040
4	Advertising and Promotions Managers	$168,490
5	Physicians, Pathologists	$166,460
6	Nurse Anesthetists	$164,830
7	Architectural and Engineering Managers	$164,060
8	Computer and Information Systems Managers	$164,060
9	Sales Managers	$163,360
10	Chief Executives	$162,640

Table 3. Top 10 highest-paying jobs in Colorado – 2020 survey

Rank	Job Description	Average Salary i
1	Family Medicine Physicians	$198,860
2	Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers	$185,720
3	Chief Executives	$182,030
4	Nurse Anesthetists	$178,870
5	Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrates	$169,400
6	General Pediatricians	$167,760
7	Athletes and Sports Competitors	$167,240
8	Architectural and Engineering Managers	$166,860
9	Marketing Managers	$164,680
10	Computer and Information Systems Managers	$162,310

Table 4. Top 10 highest-paying jobs in Colorado – 2019 survey

Rank	Job Description	Average Salary i
1	Family Medicine Physicians	$196,770
2	Chief Executives	$184,320
3	General Internal Medicine Physicians	$182,670
4	Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers	$182,150
5	Nurse Anesthetists	$177,530
6	Other Specialists Dentists	$174,820
7	Marketing Managers	$167,340
8	Architectural and Engineering Managers	$166,110
9	Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrates	$162,780
10	Computer and Information Systems Managers	$158,980

Also see The most popular jobs in Colorado.