Automotive and Watercraft Service Attendants in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$32,030
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$6,340
16.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$31,594
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
$38,370
Kept after tax
$32,030
Worth in national money
$31,594
State rank
11
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Colorado's middle earner gets $38,370, putting the state 11 of 51 — about 7.57% ahead of the national figure.
- Against 491 occupations Colorado publishes, this job lands at 466. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $38,370, tax leaves $32,030, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $31,594 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $40,320, since top earners drag the number up.
- For automotive and watercraft service attendants, Colorado sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $38,370, ranking 11 of 51 and running about 7.57% 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.
- Within Colorado, this work ranks 466 of 491 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Because Colorado sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for automotive and watercraft service attendants — median $38,370 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $32,030 retained, $31,594 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $40,320 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Automotive and Watercraft Service Attendants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $34,800 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $38,370 |
| Top tenth earn over | $47,890 |
| This salary | $38,370 |
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 | $32,030 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $33,010 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,376 |
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 | $37,150 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,874 |
| 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 automotive and watercraft service attendants in Colorado earn under $38,370 and half over. The published range runs $34,800 at the tenth percentile to $47,890 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $32,030 take-home in Colorado comes from $38,370. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 466 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $31,594 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 466.
- Figures are distribution medians for automotive and watercraft service attendants in Colorado, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $34,800 to $47,890; 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.
- Retained pay of $32,030, from $38,370, assumes a single Colorado filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 466 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 11 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $31,594, worked from $38,370, 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 466 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $40,320, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $34,800 and the top tenth $47,890, so most people doing this work in Colorado sit within a fairly tight band.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Colorado run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $31,594 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Colorado's own levy, $32,030 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 $40,320. 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 ($34,800 to $47,890) 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 $31,594 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 $32,030 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.