Biological Science Teachers, Postsecondary in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$74,618
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$24,062
24.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$73,601
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
$98,680
Kept after tax
$74,618
Worth in national money
$73,601
State rank
11
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Colorado's middle earner gets $98,680, putting the state 11 of 49 — about 16.62% ahead of the national figure.
- Within Colorado this is well-paid work. Of 491 occupations with published figures in the state, this job ranks 99 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $98,680 the take-home is $74,618, which is worth about $73,601 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $100,200, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For biological science teachers, postsecondary, Colorado sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $98,680, ranking 11 of 49 and running about 16.62% 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.
- Ranked against every occupation Colorado publishes a median for, biological science teachers, postsecondary sits 99 of 491 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Colorado's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for biological science teachers, postsecondary on its $98,680 median: $74,618 retained after tax becomes $73,601 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $100,200 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Biological Science Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $47,720 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $98,680 |
| Top tenth earn over | $157,300 |
| This salary | $98,680 |
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 | $74,618 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $78,251 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,926 |
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 | $93,515 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$9,566 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $98,680 as a midpoint for Colorado, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $47,720 and the ninetieth is $157,300 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Colorado's $74,618, worked from $98,680. 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 99 of 491.
- Two cautions on $73,601, the adjusted value of that $98,680 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 99 of 491 locally.
- The Colorado median of $98,680 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $47,720 to $157,300. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Colorado take-home of $74,618, on $98,680 for work ranking 99 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 99 of 491 in the state.
- This $73,601 adjusted figure, worked from $98,680, 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 99 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 99 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $47,720 and the top tenth $157,300 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $73,601 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 $74,618.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 49 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($47,720) and the ninetieth ($157,300) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
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 $73,601 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 $74,618 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.