Colorado Springs you might be slightly better off than other places due to a better tourist industry and a working food and beverage industry stewartship within the city – but don’t plan on making more than maybe a dollar above minimum wage, and don’t plan on being paid well or at all for prep and breakdown.
You say you’re having a degree and experience – not sure why you’d want to work line, then… shoot for chef de partie, chef tournant, or even sous if you have a culinary degree and two, three, years that should definitely be in the cards.
As for @casheroo, it does to an extent. I usually credit culinary students with the equivalent of 6 months of work experience when determining if and where I am hiring them, and what to pay them. So someone with five years and a CIA or Cordon Bleu cert definitely has better chances than someone with “just” five years of work experience. But that’s mostly for French/Fine American restaurants, I guess.