The state’s minimum wage will increase by more than a dollar beginning in January.

The current minimum wage for hourly workers is $12.56. On Jan. 1, it will increase to $13.65 per hour.

The increase is tied to two ballot measures approved by voters. The first, a statutory measure in 2006, raised the state minimum wage to $6.85 an hour, but more importantly, it required the rate to be adjusted annually based on the Consumer Price Index. 

The minimum wage adjustments are based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is calculated and issued by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In 2016, voters approved Amendment 70, which put the increase into the state constitution. At the time, the minimum wage was $8.31 per hour; Amendment 70 hiked it to $9.30 per hour beginning in 2017, and then increased it by 90 cents per year until it reached $12 in 2020. The minimum wage has increased yearly since then, based on hikes in the Consumer Price Index.

Local governments, under legislation approved in 2019, can have higher minimum wages than the state.