CRNA Salary Colorado 2026
What UCHealth, Intermountain Health Colorado, Denver Health, and Children's Hospital CRNAs actually earn—and how Colorado's opt-out status and mountain-west market shape CRNA pay above the national average.
Colorado CRNAs earn an aggregator-sourced mean of approximately $260,630 per year — roughly 5% above the national CRNA mean of $248,320 (BLS OEWS May 2025). A quick note on the data: the Bureau of Labor Statistics excluded Colorado from its primary May 2025 OEWS release due to data quality issues in Colorado's unemployment insurance system, so the statewide figure here comes from TheCRNA.com's 2026 dataset, which blends job posting data with self-reported compensation. Treat it as a solid market estimate, not a federal payroll count. The direction is consistent with what's on the ground: Colorado's academic medical corridor, opt-out CRNA practice status, and competitive Denver labor market all push CRNA compensation above most of the Mountain West.
Colorado opted out of the CMS federal physician supervision requirement for CRNAs. This means Colorado CRNAs can administer anesthesia and manage cases independently in Medicare-certified facilities without a physician anesthesiologist present. The opt-out status matters most at rural critical-access hospitals in the Colorado Rockies and eastern plains, where CRNA-only anesthesia departments are the practical reality — there are no physician anesthesiologists staffing these facilities full-time, and the CMS opt-out is what makes a functioning anesthesia program possible at all.
Employer-by-Employer Pay: UCHealth, Intermountain Health, Denver Health & More
Colorado's CRNA market is anchored by four main employers — UCHealth anchoring the academic end in Aurora, Intermountain Health Colorado (formerly SCL Health) running a regional network, Denver Health as the safety-net Level I trauma system, and Children's Hospital Colorado for specialized pediatric anesthesia. Here is how employer compensation compares across Colorado's major systems.
| Employer | Type / Location | Base Salary Range |
|---|---|---|
| UCHealth — University of Colorado Hospital | Academic Level I trauma, Anschutz Medical Campus (Aurora) | $255,000–$285,000 |
| Children's Hospital Colorado | Pediatric specialty, Aurora; Level I pediatric trauma | $250,000–$280,000 |
| Denver Health Medical Center | Safety-net Level I trauma, downtown Denver | $240,000–$268,000 |
| Intermountain Health Colorado (SCL) | Regional system, Front Range and mountain communities | $235,000–$265,000 |
| HealthONE — HCA Mountain Division | Community / regional, Denver metro | $230,000–$258,000 |
| UCHealth — Poudre Valley / Loveland | Regional, Northern Colorado | $235,000–$262,000 |
| Centura Health (now Intermountain affiliated) | Multi-site community hospitals | $225,000–$252,000 |
| Rural critical-access (locum / sole-provider) | Eastern plains and mountain corridor | $195–$225/hr |
UCHealth's Anschutz Medical Campus is the defining employer for Colorado CRNA compensation. The campus anchors the Aurora Medical Center (University of Colorado Hospital), the University of Colorado Cancer Center, and a Level I trauma and burn program — all of which generate the complex case mix that supports premium anesthesia pay. A CRNA on Anschutz's cardiac or neurotrauma rotation is handling academic complexity with an employer that recruits nationally, so compensation stays within range of major academic centers in California and New York rather than tracking the Mountain West mean.
Children's Hospital Colorado is the other anchor for premium CRNA pay in Colorado. Pediatric anesthesia has always commanded a premium because the skill set is narrower, the case complexity is high, and the candidate pool is limited. CRNAs who hold or can develop pediatric subspecialty competency at Children's Hospital operate at the top of Colorado's CRNA pay band. The facility competes in a national market for pediatric CRNA talent, which keeps its compensation above what a community hospital CRNA in Colorado Springs or Greeley earns.
Colorado's Opt-Out Status: What Independent Practice Means Here
Colorado's opt-out from the CMS physician supervision requirement gives Colorado CRNAs something a lot of the country still lacks: a clean legal basis for independent CRNA practice. Under the opt-out, a Colorado CRNA at a Medicare-certified hospital can handle the entire anesthesia case — preop assessment, agent selection, induction, maintenance, emergence, and postop handoff — without a physician anesthesiologist in the chain of command. Facilities can still implement collaborative agreements or anesthesiologist medical direction as internal policy, but it is not a federal requirement.
Where this matters most is rural Colorado. The eastern plains hospitals — in communities like La Junta, Lamar, Sterling, and Wray — run CRNA-only anesthesia departments under remote medical director models. Without the opt-out, those departments would need to document physician involvement for every Medicare case, which is operationally impossible at a 15-bed critical-access hospital six hours from Denver. The opt-out is what keeps surgical programs open in rural Colorado, and the locum market reflects it: rural sole-provider placements in eastern Colorado and the Western Slope pay $195–$225/hr, which is competitive with larger market locum rates despite lower local cost of living.
Mountain resort communities add a different dimension to independent CRNA practice in Colorado. Vail Health, Aspen Valley Hospital, and Summit County's St. Anthony Summit Medical Center are small facilities with significant elective surgical volume driven by orthopedic injuries and elective procedures from a high-income patient population. These facilities rely heavily on locum and CRNA-only anesthesia models, and the combination of high patient acuity (skiing orthopedic trauma is genuinely acute), difficult weather logistics, and high local cost of living pushes locum CRNA rates in mountain resort communities to $195–$215/hr for standard trauma and orthopedic coverage.
Opt-out summary: Colorado is an opt-out state for CMS physician supervision. Colorado CRNAs can practice independently in Medicare-certified facilities, establish independent CRNA practice entities, and contract with ASCs and rural critical-access hospitals without federal physician supervision requirements. This is active law — verify your individual facility's internal policy, which may differ.
Denver/Boulder vs. Mountain Communities: The Pay Geography
Colorado's CRNA market splits into four geographic tiers. Understanding the differences matters for salary negotiation and location decisions.
Denver-Aurora academic corridor: UCHealth, Children's Hospital, and Denver Health anchor this tier. CRNAs here earn $240,000–$285,000, with subspecialty and lead roles at UCHealth reaching $295,000–$310,000. Cost of living in Denver proper has risen sharply since 2020 — a 2-bedroom in Denver runs $2,200–$3,200/month, comparable to mid-tier east coast cities — but CRNA compensation has tracked upward as well. The academic corridor remains the highest-paying CRNA market in Colorado for full-time employment.
Front Range community hospitals (Boulder, Fort Collins, Colorado Springs, Greeley): Intermountain Health Colorado, UCHealth regional campuses, and HCA Mountain Division facilities in this tier pay $225,000–$260,000. Boulder's cost of living rivals Denver; Colorado Springs and Greeley offer lower housing costs against slightly lower pay. For CRNAs who want Denver-adjacent pay without Denver rents, Fort Collins and the Northern Colorado UCHealth network is worth looking at.
Mountain resort communities (Vail, Aspen, Steamboat, Summit County): Locum-heavy, elective-surgical-volume-driven, and expensive to live in. Facility pay for staff CRNAs at small mountain hospitals runs $235,000–$265,000, which looks solid until you price Vail Valley or Aspen area housing. The real play here is locum: $195–$215/hr with a housing stipend, high surgical volume during ski season (December–April), and a lighter caseload in summer. The lifestyle tradeoff is isolation and altitude; the clinical challenge is genuine wilderness trauma mixed with elective orthopedics.
Rural eastern plains and Western Slope: Lowest base pay, highest per-hour locum rates as a ratio to base. Full-time rural CRNA salaries run $215,000–$245,000 at critical-access hospitals. Locum sole-provider rates reach $195–$225/hr. No cost of living problem — a 3-bedroom in La Junta or Grand Junction costs a fraction of Denver. For CRNAs who price the trade-off correctly, rural Colorado offers a strong financial proposition: lower gross income but dramatically higher net income relative to housing and living costs.
How to Push Your Colorado CRNA Pay Past $280,000
Colorado CRNAs have real levers for pushing past the statewide mean. Here are the ones that actually move the number.
UCHealth Anschutz subspecialty positioning: The single highest-leverage move for a Colorado CRNA is landing a cardiac, neurotrauma, or pediatric anesthesia rotation at UCHealth's Anschutz campus or Children's Hospital. The pay band at both institutions tops out 15–20% above the statewide mean, and the subspecialty credential compounds: a CRNA with documented cardiac anesthesia competency at an academic Level I is employable at premium pay anywhere in the country.
Independent practice via opt-out: Colorado's opt-out enables CRNAs to establish practice entities and contract directly with ASCs, dental and oral surgery offices, pain management practices, and endoscopy centers. Denver's ASC market is mature — Centura and HCA each operate multi-site ASC networks — and independent CRNA day rates at Denver-area ASCs run $1,400–$2,200 per day depending on case volume and complexity. A CRNA supplementing two to three hospital days per week with two ASC days can clear $280,000–$310,000.
Mountain resort locum seasons: Ski season (December–April) at Vail Health or Aspen Valley generates 12–18 weeks of locum CRNA coverage needs. At $195–$215/hr with housing provided, a Colorado CRNA who builds a ski-season locum pattern on top of a base position adds $30,000–$50,000 to gross annual income during the season. The math only works if you can get the base employer to accommodate the schedule flexibility — some academic systems cannot, but regional and community hospitals often can.
On-call and trauma call-back: Level I trauma centers at UCHealth and Denver Health pay on-call and call-back at premium rates. A UCHealth CRNA taking significant neurotrauma or burn call adds real money — $15,000–$30,000 per year in call-back activations for a full call schedule. The lifestyle cost is also real; model actual call-back frequency from colleagues before committing.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the average CRNA salary in Colorado?
Colorado CRNAs earn an aggregator-sourced mean of approximately $260,630 per year — about 5% above the national CRNA mean of $248,320 (BLS OEWS May 2025). Note: BLS excluded Colorado from its primary OEWS release due to state-level data quality issues, so this figure comes from TheCRNA.com's 2026 dataset. UCHealth Anschutz and Children's Hospital Colorado CRNAs typically earn $255,000–$285,000.
Do CRNAs need physician supervision in Colorado?
No. Colorado opted out of the CMS federal physician supervision requirement. CRNAs can practice independently in Medicare-certified Colorado facilities. Facilities may still implement collaborative agreements as internal policy, but federal supervision is not mandated. Colorado is among 27 opt-out states per AANA as of 2026.
How much do UCHealth CRNAs earn in Colorado?
UCHealth CRNAs at the University of Colorado Hospital on the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora typically earn $255,000–$285,000, with lead CRNA and cardiac subspecialty roles reaching $295,000–$310,000. UCHealth is Colorado's largest academic health system and its Anschutz campus is a Level I trauma center, driving compensation above the statewide mean.
What do locum CRNA rates look like in Colorado?
Locum CRNA rates in Colorado run $175–$200/hr at Denver-metro hospitals and $195–$225/hr at rural mountain and critical-access facilities. Colorado's opt-out status simplifies rural locum CRNA contracting — no physician supervision arrangement required. Mountain resort communities and far eastern/western Colorado plains hospitals see the highest per-hour locum premiums.
Is Colorado an NLC compact state for nurses?
Yes. Colorado is a member of the enhanced Nurse Licensure Compact (eNLC). RNs licensed in another compact state can practice in Colorado without a separate Colorado license. For CRNAs, the NLC compact covers RN licensure — CRNA/APRN practice still requires Colorado State Board of Nursing APRN authorization. The APRN Compact, when implemented, would extend multistate coverage to CRNAs specifically.
Sources
- Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS May 2025 — Nurse Anesthetists (29-1151) — National CRNA mean $248,320; Colorado excluded from primary state release
- American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology (AANA) — opt-out state list and independent practice guidance
- Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies — Nursing Board — Colorado APRN practice requirements and licensure
- UCHealth Careers — CRNA job postings and compensation data
Sources and method
Last updated
Where this page quotes a Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) figure, it is from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2025 release, published May 15, 2026. BLS does not publish separate wages for nursing specialties such as ICU, ER or travel nursing, so figures for those come from private publishers that build estimates from job postings or self-reported pay rather than employer payroll records. Treat them as ranges, not exact salaries.
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025: wage estimates by occupation and state, released May 15, 2026.
- BLS OEWS: registered nurses (29-1141): registered nurse wages, national and by state.