Chemists in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$76,794
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$25,186
24.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$75,747
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
$101,980
Kept after tax
$76,794
Worth in national money
$75,747
State rank
10
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Colorado is one of the better-paying states for chemists. The middle earner takes $101,980, which ranks 10 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 11.77% above the national middle.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Colorado. It ranks 88 out of 491 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $101,980, tax leaves $76,794, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $75,747 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $106,480, since top earners drag the number up.
- Colorado ranks 10 of 51 states publishing a median for chemists, at $101,980 — about 11.77% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Within Colorado, chemists ranks 88 of 491 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Because Colorado sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for chemists — median $101,980 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $76,794 retained, $75,747 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $106,480 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Chemists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $61,260 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $101,980 |
| Top tenth earn over | $162,680 |
| This salary | $101,980 |
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 | $76,794 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $80,573 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$7,168 |
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 | $96,609 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$9,901 |
| 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 chemists in Colorado earn under $101,980 and half over. The published range runs $61,260 at the tenth percentile to $162,680 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 $76,794, worked from $101,980. 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 88 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $75,747 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 88.
- Figures are distribution medians for chemists in Colorado, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $61,260 to $162,680; 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 $76,794, on $101,980 for work ranking 88 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 88 of 491 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $75,747, worked from $101,980, 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 88 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $106,480, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $61,260, the highest tenth $162,680, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $75,747 rather than its face figure.
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, $76,794 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 $106,480. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($61,260) and the ninetieth ($162,680) 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 $75,747 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 $76,794 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.