Demographics
Population | | Colorado | Nation |
| Total (State rank: 22) | 5,116,796 | 311,591,919 |
Age distribution | Age range | Colorado | Nation |
| Up to 4 | 6.7% | 6.4% |
| 5 to 14 | 13.4% | 13.2% |
| 15 to 19 | 6.6% | 7.0% |
| 20 to 24 | 7.0% | 7.1% |
| 25 to 44 | 28.5% | 26.4% |
| 45 to 64 | 26.5% | 26.5% |
| 65 and older | 11.3% | 13.2% |
Racial and ethnic distribution | Race or ethnicity | Colorado | Nation |
| American Indian | 1.0% | 0.8% |
| Asian | 2.8% | 4.8% |
| Black | 4.0% | 12.6% |
| Pacific Islander | 0.1% | 0.2% |
| White | 84.4% | 74.1% |
| More than one race | 3.4% | 2.8% |
| Hispanic (may be any race) | 20.9% | 16.7% |
| Other | 4.3% | 4.7% |
Educational attainment of adults (highest level) | Level | Colorado | Nation |
| 8th grade or less | 4.0% | 6.0% |
| Some high school, no diploma | 5.8% | 8.1% |
| High-school diploma | 22.4% | 28.4% |
| Some college, no degree | 22.8% | 21.2% |
| Associate degree | 8.3% | 7.8% |
| Bachelor’s degree | 23.3% | 17.9% |
| Master’s degree | 9.8% | 7.5% |
| Doctoral degree | 1.5% | 1.2% |
| Professional degree | 2.1% | 1.9% |
Proportion who speak a language other than English at home | | Colorado | Nation |
| | 16.7% | 20.8% |
Per capita personal income | | Colorado | Nation |
| (State rank: 14) | $45,135 | $42,693 |
Poverty rate | | Colorado | Nation |
| | 13.5% | 15.9% |
New high-school graduates | Estimate | Colorado | Nation |
| Total for 2013-14 | 51,179 | 3,219,207 |
| Projected change from 2013-14 to 2023-24 | 18.9% | 7.9% |
New GED diploma recipients | | Colorado | Nation |
| | 9,376 | 401,388 |
High-school dropout rate | | Colorado | Nation |
| | 5.9% | 4.9% |
Faculty pay
Average pay of full-time professors
Public doctoral institutions | Academic rank | Colorado | Nation |
| Professor | $109,542 | $118,822 |
| Associate professor | $82,326 | $81,373 |
| Assistant professor | $69,125 | $70,325 |
| All | $80,322 | $85,690 |
Public master’s institutions | Academic rank | Colorado | Nation |
| Professor | $82,995 | $89,076 |
| Associate professor | $65,088 | $71,297 |
| Assistant professor | $56,176 | $60,506 |
| All | $60,717 | $69,025 |
Private nonprofit doctoral institutions | Academic rank | Colorado | Nation |
| Professor | $120,496 | $152,042 |
| Associate professor | $83,376 | $95,762 |
| Assistant professor | $76,091 | $82,983 |
| All | $85,168 | $108,803 |
Private nonprofit master’s institutions | Academic rank | Colorado | Nation |
| Professor | $75,319 | $91,161 |
| Associate professor | $60,571 | $71,963 |
| Assistant professor | $54,163 | $58,901 |
| All | $60,469 | $69,941 |
Other 4-year institutions | Control | Colorado | Nation |
| Public | $60,074 | $61,265 |
| Private nonprofit | $82,571 | $68,804 |
2-year colleges | Control | Colorado | Nation |
| Public | $45,945 | $62,568 |
| Private nonprofit | n/a | $48,969 |
Students
Enrollment | Group | Colorado | Nation |
| Undergraduate | 308,124 | 18,047,249 |
| Graduate and professional | 57,696 | 2,931,076 |
| At public 4-year institutions | 169,441 | 8,033,071 |
| At public 2-year institutions | 99,857 | 7,062,467 |
| At private 4-year institutions, nonprofit | 33,894 | 3,887,322 |
| At private 2-year institutions, nonprofit | 115 | 39,553 |
| At private 4-year institutions, for-profit | 51,004 | 1,559,080 |
| At private 2-year institutions, for-profit | 11,509 | 396,832 |
| Total | 365,820 | 20,978,325 |
Share of enrollment | Institution type | Colorado | Nation |
| Public | 74% | 72% |
| 4-year | 70% | 64% |
| 2-year | 30% | 36% |
Degrees awarded | Level | Colorado | Nation |
| Associate | 16,145 | 942,217 |
| Bachelor’s | 29,540 | 1,712,538 |
| Master’s | 14,246 | 730,635 |
| Doctorate | 2,170 | 163,715 |
Residence of new students
State
State residents made up 76% of all freshmen enrolled in Colorado in the fall of 2010 who had graduated from high school in the previous year; 76% of all Colorado residents who were freshmen attended college in their home state.
Nation
82% of all freshmen in the fall of 2010 who had graduated from high school in the previous year attended colleges in their home states.
Graduation rates at 4-year institutions | Gender, race or ethnicity | Colorado | Nation |
| All | 51.1% | 59.0% |
| Men | 49.2% | 56.4% |
| Women | 52.8% | 61.2% |
| American Indian | 30.9% | 40.6% |
| Asian | 54.0% | 69.7% |
| Black | 28.5% | 40.2% |
| Hispanic | 39.5% | 51.4% |
| White | 54.1% | 62.3% |
| 2 or more races | 14.9% | 64.0% |
| Race unknown | 47.3% | 56.0% |
Diversity
Enrollment by race, ethnicity, and citizenship status | Race, ethnicity, or citizenship status | Colorado | Nation |
| American Indian | 3,883 | 174,629 |
| Asian | 11,317 | 1,133,719 |
| Black | 26,571 | 2,840,259 |
| Pacific Islander | 970 | 61,179 |
| Hispanic | 45,218 | 2,695,637 |
| White | 225,713 | 11,519,372 |
| 2 or more races | 8,576 | 405,812 |
| Race unknown | 35,242 | 1,409,094 |
| Foreign | 8,330 | 738,624 |
| Total | 365,820 | 20,978,325 |
Share of enrollment | Group | Colorado | Nation |
| Women | 56.0% | 57.0% |
| American Indian | 1.1% | 0.8% |
| Asian | 3.1% | 5.4% |
| Black | 7.3% | 13.5% |
| Pacific Islander | 0.3% | 0.3% |
| Hispanic | 12.4% | 12.8% |
| White | 61.7% | 54.9% |
| 2 or more races | 2.3% | 1.9% |
| Race unknown | 9.6% | 6.7% |
| Foreign | 2.3% | 3.5% |
| Minority | 26.4% | 34.9% |
| Underrepresented minority | 20.7% | 27.2% |
| Full-time | 59.4% | 61.9% |
Test scores
State
Students averaged 20.6 on the ACT, which was taken by an estimated 100% of Colorado’s high-school seniors. Students averaged 1156 on the SAT, which was taken by an estimated 17% of Colorado’s high-school seniors.
Nation
Students averaged 21.1 on the ACT and 1010 on the SAT.
Finance
Average tuition and fees | Institution type | Colorado | Nation |
| Public 4-year | $6,578 | $7,087 |
| Public 2-year | $2,786 | $2,419 |
| Private 4-year | $30,285 | $26,165 |
State funds for higher-education operating expenses | | Colorado | Nation |
| State funds | $640,628,978 | $71,966,406,875 |
| One-year change | -1.1% | -0.4% |
State spending on student aid | Aid type | Colorado | Nation |
| Need-based grants | $74,344,504 | $6,954,307,090 |
| Non-need-based grants | $364,922 | $2,444,876,754 |
| Nongrant aid | $29,476,521 | $1,737,198,826 |
| Total | $104,185,947 | $11,136,382,670 |
Spending on research and development by colleges and universities | | Colorado | Nation |
| Total | $1,291,054,000 | $65,073,411,000 |
| One-year change | 9.4% | 6.3% |
Sources of financing | Source | Colorado | Nation |
| Federal government | 76.4% | 62.6% |
| State and local governments | 3.5% | 5.9% |
| Industry | 4.8% | 4.9% |
| Nonprofit | 4.9% | 5.9% |
| Institution itself | 9.3% | 19.1% |
| Other | 1.0% | 1.6% |
Share for specific research fields | Field | Colorado | Nation |
| Engineering | 17.9% | 15.4% |
| Environmental sciences | 17.9% | 4.9% |
| Life sciences | 44.0% | 57.2% |
| Math and computer sciences | 1.8% | 3.6% |
| Physical sciences | 9.8% | 7.3% |
| Psychology | 2.1% | 1.7% |
| Social sciences | 1.9% | 3.1% |
| Other sciences | 0.6% | 1.7% |
| Fields other than science and engineering | 3.9% | 4.9% |
Largest endowment | Institution | Colorado |
| University of Colorado Foundation | $771,320,000 |
Top fund raisers (among survey participants) | Institution | Colorado |
| University of Colorado system | $221,206,966 |
| University of Denver | $44,054,321 |
| Colorado School of Mines | $27,124,023 |
Colleges and universities
Number of institutions | Institution type | Colorado | Nation |
| Public 4-year | 13 | 679 |
| Public 2-year | 14 | 972 |
| Private 4-year, nonprofit | 12 | 1,557 |
| Private 2-year, nonprofit | 1 | 100 |
| Private 4-year, for-profit | 29 | 735 |
| Private 2-year, for-profit | 22 | 669 |
| Total | 91 | 4,712 |
3 largest institutions by enrollment | Institution | Colorado |
| University of Colorado at Boulder | 26,842 |
| Colorado State University | 23,121 |
| Colorado Technical University Online | 17,549 |
Institutions censured or sanctioned by the AAUP
None
Institutions on NCAA probation
None
Note: See Sources & Notes for details about the data.
Correction (9/24/2014): All tables in the 2013 Almanac’s States section have been updated to make them more comparable to ones published in other years. The data are now limited to degree-granting institutions that are eligible to receive Title IV federal financial aid, not all higher-education institutions. Administrative offices that were inadvertently counted as institutions in the original version of the tables have been omitted from the total number of institutions in each state. Figures for tuition and fees, which had incorrectly excluded fees, now reflect both tuition and fees. The three largest institutions by enrollment give figures for full-time students in fall 2011, not an unduplicated head count of all undergraduate and graduate students enrolled over a 12-month period for 2010-11.
