Animal Trainers in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$36,527
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$7,763
17.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$36,029
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
$44,290
Kept after tax
$36,527
Worth in national money
$36,029
State rank
13
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for animal trainers is strong here. Colorado's middle earner gets $44,290, putting the state 13 of 47 — about 10.75% ahead of the national figure.
- Within Colorado this is lower-paid work. Of 491 occupations the state publishes figures for, animal trainers ranks 433. 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 $44,290 the take-home is $36,527, which is worth about $36,029 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $50,010, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For animal trainers, Colorado sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $44,290, ranking 13 of 47 and running about 10.75% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Against every occupation Colorado reports, animal trainers ranks 433 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 animal trainers on its $44,290 median: $36,527 retained after tax becomes $36,029 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $50,010 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Animal Trainers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,420 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $44,290 |
| Top tenth earn over | $67,330 |
| This salary | $44,290 |
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 | $36,527 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $37,767 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,836 |
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 | $42,746 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,430 |
| 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 animal trainers in Colorado earn under $44,290 and half over. The published range runs $36,420 at the tenth percentile to $67,330 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Colorado the take-home figure of $36,527, from $44,290, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 433 of 491 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $36,029, the adjusted value of that $44,290 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Colorado. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 433 of 491 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for animal trainers in Colorado, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $36,420 to $67,330; 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.
- Take-home for Colorado is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $36,527 from $44,290. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 433 of 491 locally.
- This $36,029 adjusted figure, worked from $44,290, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 433 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 433 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 $50,010 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $36,420 at the bottom tenth to $67,330 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $36,029 of national purchasing power.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Colorado adds its own income tax on top — which is why $36,527 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 47 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $50,010. 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 ($36,420 to $67,330) 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 $36,029 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 $36,527 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.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 47 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.