Where will $49.6 billion
of Colorado’s money go?
Colorado's FY 2026–27 budget appropriates $49.6 billion — about $136 million every day. This portal turns the official record into plain English. It shows what was approved, what's actually being spent, and which major projects deserve your attention.
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Where will $49.6 billion of Colorado’s money go? Colorado's state budget, read from the official record, in plain English. #ColoradoWorksBetter #TaxpayerShareholder #ShowYourWork
https://colorado.worksbetter.org/overview
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Two totals, two bases. An appropriation is money the legislature authorized to be spent, not money spent. For FY 2026-27, the Long Bill alone appropriates $49,560,763,693 FACT. The Appropriations Report from the Joint Budget Committee staff adds the other bills of the session: $49,694,444,712 FACT.
The General Fund is $17,351,445,407 FACT in the Long Bill alone and $17,461,279,123 FACT in the report. Both are correct, and we never add them. See both totals, with their sources.
Watch your money where you live.
One email a week about your county, with a source for every figure.
- Where your property tax goes
- State projects in your county
- A plain line when nothing moved
Where $100 goes
| Department | Per $100 | FY27 budget |
|---|---|---|
| Health care · Medicaid & CHP+ (HCPF) | $41.45 | $20.54B |
| K-12 education | $15.87 | $7.86B |
| Higher education | $13.23 | $6.56B |
| Human services | $5.47 | $2.71B |
| Transportation | $4.64 | $2.30B |
| Corrections | $2.57 | $1.27B |
| Courts (Judicial) | $2.44 | $1.21B |
| All other departments · 16 agencies | $14.33 | $7.10B |
| Total | $100.00 | $49.56B |
What shaped these numbers — the pressures behind them, and how the mix compares to every other state — is on the budget in detail.
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Where $100 goes. What Colorado's state budget pays for, from the enacted budget. #ColoradoWorksBetter #TaxpayerShareholder #ShowYourWork
https://colorado.worksbetter.org/overview#receipt
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This is the state’s receipt. Want yours? Follow your dollar — estimate what your household pays in, and where it lands →
Where these projects are
Capital & transportation projects over $10M · click a pin for its record · the whole ledgerThis map leaves out projects under $10 million. Those are in the project list. It also leaves out money for programs, such as Medicaid, because a program has no one site to pin. Medicaid spending and enrollment for your county are on Near You.
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Where these projects are. Colorado's largest building and road projects, on one map. #ColoradoWorksBetter #TaxpayerShareholder #ShowYourWork
https://colorado.worksbetter.org/overview#map
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What shaped this budget
Colorado’s mix differs from the 50-state average most on higher education — 15.9% of its spending against 8.8% across all states, a gap of +7.1 points. FACT Basis: self-reported expenditures, fiscal 2025 NASBO estimate — not this year’s enacted appropriation. Neither a rank nor a per-resident figure is derived on this basis: NASBO publishes shares only.
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What shaped this budget. The pressures behind Colorado's budget, and how its spending compares with other states. #ColoradoWorksBetter #TaxpayerShareholder #ShowYourWork
https://colorado.worksbetter.org/overview#budget-detail
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Who pays for it
The dollars are the act’s. The shares are ours: each fund’s appropriation ÷ the act’s $49.6B all-funds total. They sum to 100%. CALC
"Reappropriated" is money counted twice as it moves between agencies. Net of double-counting, the budget is ≈ $46.7B. CALC
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Who pays for it. Where the money in Colorado's state budget comes from. #ColoradoWorksBetter #TaxpayerShareholder #ShowYourWork
https://colorado.worksbetter.org/overview#funding
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Why this exists
Colorado WorksBetter exists so any resident can see where public money goes, in plain English. Every figure names its official source, and a figure we cannot source stays blank.
What changed this week
Published weekly, on Thursdays. Every figure in a brief is read back off the published page against the record it came from. A week with little in it is reported as a week with little in it — a quiet week is a finding about the record, not a gap in the brief.Colorado's marijuana money, year by year
- In the Weeds: Colorado's marijuana money, year by year, with six findings
- The minimum wage beside Denver prices, a month's pay and rent at the low end
- The state highway money paid to Denver, Aurora, Colorado Springs, Fort Collins and Lakewood
Central 70, every dollar counted once
- Central 70: every layer of money behind the project, with each dollar counted once
- What each county was paid this year from the severance tax and federal mineral lease money
- The I-270 rebuild, school funding per pupil, and three corrections
The Budget, and new pages to explore
- The Budget on one page: the state's reserve, the September TABOR refund forecast, where the money goes and what the state owes
- Pages to explore on business confidence, living costs, schools, state payments, fees, car registration and three big projects
- Highway money paid to each county, and what CDOT paid its vendors in September
Cities
NewFive Colorado cities have a page of their own, built from that city’s own published records. Each city is a separate government with its own budget.
The corrections log
The log begins on 11 July 2026. The most recent was 29 October 2026. The three newest are below; the full log is a page of its own.
- Oct 29 · Five Twenties Episode 4 said a new graduate has $31,149 left after rent. That left out federal income tax and payroll tax. $23,383 is left. Episode 4: Recent Grads took rent and Colorado taxes and fees out of $50,355 of first-year pay and called the $31,149 that remained what is left for food, transport, insurance and savings. It did not take out federal income tax ($3,914 for a single filer on 2025 brackets) or employee payroll tax ($3,852), $7,766 in all. The page now shows $31,149 as what is left after rent and Colorado taxes, then the federal line, then $23,383 left. Per $100 of pay, that is $46.44. The page also said that with no Colorado income tax the graduate would be “$6,000 short of the affordability line.” That line is set on gross pay, so state tax does not move it; the gap is still $7,645.corrected
- Oct 29 · Five Twenties Episode 1 printed federal tax as $15.30 of every $100. Its own model gives $15.27, so tax takes $19.33 and $50.20 is left. Episode 1: The Everyday Wallet models $7,397 of federal income tax on the $97,113 median household income, which is 7.62%, plus employee payroll tax at 7.65%. That is $15.27 of every $100. The page rounded it to 15.3% and printed $15.30, which made all tax $19.36 and left $50.17. The bar, the legend, the closing card and the series index now read $15.27, $19.33 and $50.20.corrected
- Oct 17 · Cost of Living said the electric-vehicle road fee is written into law through FY 2032-33. The statute’s schedule ends FY 2031-32, and inflation indexing starts in FY 2032-33. The fees section of Cost of Living said the electric-vehicle fee is “written into law through FY 2032-33,” while the table below it said the statutory schedule ends FY 2031-32. The Division of Motor Vehicles prints the schedule through June 30, 2032 and says inflation will not begin until FY 2032-33. The sentence now matches the table and the chart. No figure changed.corrected