Colorado women earn 81 cents on every dollar earned by men, and child care costs are making it worse

Colorado women working full time are making 80.9 cents on the dollar compared to men, and compounded by other inequalities over the course of a career, that adds up to a retirement income that falls short. Among single women, though, women of color were twice as likely to live in poverty. White women in Colorado had median annual earnings of $62,000, while Black women earned $47,000 and Latinas earned $43,000. Child care for infants, meanwhile, cost $12,750 in homes and $19,750 in centers on average, which is about one-third of the median, full-time salary for women. Or they sacrifice a sizable portion of their incomes to pay for child care.