Amusement and Recreation Attendants in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,056
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$5,714
16.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$29,646
Colorado costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Colorado — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$35,770
Kept after tax
$30,056
Worth in national money
$29,646
State rank
8
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Colorado pays this job a middle wage of $35,770, ranking 8 of 51 states and sitting about 11.26% above the national middle.
- Within Colorado this is lower-paid work. Of 491 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 488. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $35,770 the take-home is $30,056, which is worth about $29,646 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $37,750, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Colorado's median for amusement and recreation attendants is $35,770, about 11.26% above the national figure and 8 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Against every occupation Colorado reports, amusement and recreation attendants ranks 488 of 491, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Colorado's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for amusement and recreation attendants on its $35,770 median: $30,056 retained after tax becomes $29,646 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $37,750 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Amusement and Recreation Attendants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $30,880 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $35,770 |
| Top tenth earn over | $46,950 |
| This salary | $35,770 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Colorado | $30,056 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $30,921 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,174 |
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $34,693 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,629 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of amusement and recreation attendants in Colorado earn under $35,770 and half over. The published range runs $30,880 at the tenth percentile to $46,950 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Colorado's $30,056, worked from $35,770. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 488 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $29,646 uses one figure for the whole of Colorado. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 491 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 488.
- Figures are distribution medians for amusement and recreation attendants in Colorado, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $30,880 to $46,950; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- The Colorado take-home of $30,056, on $35,770 for work ranking 488 of 491 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 488 of 491 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $29,646, worked from $35,770, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Colorado address, on work sitting at 488 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $37,750 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $30,880 at the tenth percentile, $46,950 at the ninetieth.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Colorado costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $29,646 rather than its face figure.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Colorado then takes its own share, leaving $30,056.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Colorado is $37,750. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($30,880 to $46,950) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Colorado rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Colorado's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $29,646 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $30,056 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Colorado income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.