This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

DENVER (KDVR) — Colorado will be at the top of the nation’s earners in the next decade if payroll analysts are correct.

Tipalti, a payroll and expense automation company, analyzed wages and wage growth among U.S. states for the last decade. Analysts then predicted the average wages for 2031.

Colorado has been growing into one of the nation’s top-earning states for the last decade with high concentrations of lucrative tech and finance jobs. Though the housing market has grown to one of the nation’s most expensive, Colorado wages outpace most other states.

Tipalti’s analysts believe this will speed up in the near future. By 2031, the Centennial State will have the nation’s sixth-highest average wages.

The average wage is projected to be $101,445 by 2031 – one of only seven states where the average wage will top six figures.

Washington, California, Massachusetts, New York and New Hampshire will be the only other states with higher pay. Washington’s will be the highest at $135,356.

This assumes that wages will grow the same way in the next 10 years that they grew in the previous 10 years. In 2021, Colorado was already at the tail end of a decade’s worth of some of the nation’s highest wage growth.

In 2021, Colorado had the U.S.’s ninth-highest average wage of $70,563 per year. West Coast, Mid-Atlantic and New England states had higher.

In the early 2010s, Colorado’s wages were lower compared to other states. Wages grew 44% from 2011, the nation’s seventh-highest rate.