Which Colorado business program has the lowest debt?

Fort Lewis College reports the lowest median federal debt, $20,500, with first-year pay of $33,376.

How much do business graduates earn in Colorado?

The median across 7 Colorado business bachelor's programs is $43,067 in the first year after graduating and $59,558 five years after.

How many business bachelor's programs are in Colorado?

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

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

7 programs report first-year pay
7 also report federal debt
Bachelor's in Business/Commerce, General

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median Colorado business bachelor's program pays its graduates $43,067 in their first year, $3,640 less than the national median. Regis University reports the highest first-year pay ($66,739), and Fort Lewis College the lowest median debt ($20,500).

Median first-year pay$43,067National $46,707

Median pay after 5 years$59,558National $64,119

Median federal debt$24,000National $25,625

Debt-to-earnings58%National 54%

All 7 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	Regis UniversityDenver · private nonprofit	$66,739	Not reported	$32,592	49%
2	University of DenverDenver · private nonprofit	$45,866	$80,702	$21,000	46%
3	Colorado Mesa UniversityGrand Junction · public	$43,111	$63,935	$24,000	56%
4	CSU PuebloPueblo · public	$43,067	$58,720	$25,000	58%
5	Adams StateAlamosa · public	$40,181	$53,884	$23,624	59%
6	Colorado Technical UniversityColorado Springs · private for-profit	$37,212	$39,864	$51,764	139%
7	Fort Lewis CollegeDurango · public	$33,376	$60,396	$20,500	61%

Debt and first-year pay at every Colorado business 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

Highest first-year pay

Lowest median debt

Lowest debt for the pay

"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 business, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.

General and Operations Managers

$131,840

Median pay in Colorado. 41,870 people work in this job in Colorado. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 5% from 2025 to 2035, with about 285,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.

Bottom 10%: $65,310Top 10%: $305,040

Project Management Specialists

$110,050

Median pay in Colorado. 32,390 people work in this job in Colorado. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 7% from 2025 to 2035, with about 76,500 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $68,990Top 10%: $171,630

Management Analysts

$104,750

Median pay in Colorado. 14,360 people work in this job in Colorado. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 10% from 2025 to 2035, with about 94,100 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus less than 5 years of related work experience.

Bottom 10%: $41,050Top 10%: $204,240

Sales Managers

$180,850

Median pay in Colorado. 8,780 people work in this job in Colorado. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 5% from 2025 to 2035, with about 47,300 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus less than 5 years of related work experience.

Bottom 10%: $105,270Top 10%: $316,830

Common questions

Regis University in Denver reports the highest median first-year pay, $66,739. Its median federal debt is $32,592.

Business (Bachelor's) programs in the US, ranked206 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 business 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