Which Colorado accounting program has the lowest debt?

University of Denver reports the lowest median federal debt, $21,288, with first-year pay of $67,392.

How much do accounting graduates earn in Colorado?

The median across 10 Colorado accounting bachelor's programs is $53,893 in the first year after graduating and $66,542 five years after.

How many accounting bachelor's programs are in Colorado?

10 Colorado programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 7 of them also report federal debt.

Accounting (Bachelor's) Programs in Colorado, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

10 programs report first-year pay
7 also report federal debt
Bachelor's in Accounting and Related Services

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median Colorado accounting bachelor's program pays its graduates $53,893 in their first year, $166 less than the national median. University of Denver reports the highest first-year pay ($67,392), and University of Denver the lowest median debt ($21,288).

Median first-year pay$53,893National $54,059

Median pay after 5 years$66,542National $71,308

Median federal debt$33,668National $24,958

Debt-to-earnings55%National 45%

All 10 programs, ranked

Each figure is the median for the program's graduates. Programs that don't report a figure are listed last when you sort by it.

#	School	Year 1 pay	Year 5 pay	Debt	Debt to pay
1	University of DenverDenver · private nonprofit	$67,392	$103,111	$21,288	32%
2	CSU GlobalDenver · public	$61,648	$74,281	$34,167	55%
3	Regis UniversityDenver · private nonprofit	$58,811	$69,754	$33,668	57%
4	CSU PuebloPueblo · public	$54,213	$60,989	Not reported	Not reported
5	Metropolitan State University of DenverDenver · public	$54,030	$72,474	$26,320	49%
6	Colorado Christian UniversityLakewood · private nonprofit	$53,756	$66,454	$41,848	78%
7	Colorado Mesa UniversityGrand Junction · public	$52,198	$66,629	Not reported	Not reported
8	Western Colorado UniversityGunnison · public	$47,204	$60,215	Not reported	Not reported
9	Fort Lewis CollegeDurango · public	$45,693	$62,134	$21,500	47%
10	Colorado Technical UniversityColorado Springs · private for-profit	$42,370	$54,256	$45,340	107%

CSU Pueblo, Colorado Mesa University, and Western Colorado University report pay but not debt, so they are ranked only by pay.

Debt and first-year pay at every Colorado accounting program

Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Colorado medians.

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 7 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

"Debt for the pay" is median debt divided by first-year pay. Only programs that report both figures are included.

Careers this field leads to

These are the jobs that the federal crosswalk from fields of study to occupations links to accounting, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.

Accountants and Auditors

$97,030

Median pay in Colorado. 35,410 people work in this job in Colorado. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 5% from 2025 to 2035, with about 115,300 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $60,760Top 10%: $162,160

Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks

$54,000

Median pay in Colorado. 26,140 people work in this job in Colorado. Nationally, jobs are projected to shrink 6% from 2025 to 2035, with about 144,100 openings a year. Typical education to start: some college, no degree.

Bottom 10%: $37,250Top 10%: $77,540

Financial Managers

$182,690

Median pay in Colorado. 10,640 people work in this job in Colorado. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 10% from 2025 to 2035, with about 65,600 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.

Bottom 10%: $123,900Top 10%: $339,290

Financial and Investment Analysts

$103,850

Median pay in Colorado. 8,040 people work in this job in Colorado. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 7% from 2025 to 2035, with about 24,700 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $71,590Top 10%: $171,570

Common questions

University of Denver in Denver reports the highest median first-year pay, $67,392. Its median federal debt is $21,288.

Accounting (Bachelor's) programs in the US, ranked636 programs by pay and debt

About this data

Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid, and earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school.
Debt only includes federal loans. Private loans and credit cards are not counted.
Some schools with several campuses report one combined figure for all of them. We count each of those schools once, and leave them out of Colorado rankings when their main campus is in another state.
Medians are across the accounting bachelor's programs that report each figure, so the counts differ by figure. Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago. BLS wages are from May 2025.

Sources

U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, field of study and institution files, June 2026 release
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025 to 2035
NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024