Childcare Workers in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$33,838
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$6,912
17.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$33,377
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
$40,750
Kept after tax
$33,838
Worth in national money
$33,377
State rank
4
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for childcare workers is strong here. Colorado's middle earner gets $40,750, putting the state 4 of 51 — about 16.5% ahead of the national figure.
- Against 491 occupations Colorado publishes, childcare workers lands at 451. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $40,750, tax leaves $33,838, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $33,377 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $42,410, since top earners drag the number up.
- For childcare workers, Colorado sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $40,750, ranking 4 of 51 and running about 16.5% 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 451 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 childcare workers — median $40,750 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $33,838 retained, $33,377 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $42,410 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Childcare Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $33,430 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $40,750 |
| Top tenth earn over | $49,190 |
| This salary | $40,750 |
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 | $33,838 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $34,923 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,561 |
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 | $39,400 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,097 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $40,750 as a midpoint for Colorado, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $33,430 and the ninetieth is $49,190 — 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 $33,838, worked from $40,750. 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 451 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $33,377 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 451.
- The Colorado median of $40,750 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $33,430 to $49,190. 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 $33,838, on $40,750 for work ranking 451 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 451 of 491 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $33,377, worked from $40,750, 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 451 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 $42,410, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $33,430 at the bottom tenth to $49,190 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $33,377 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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 $33,838 of this wage survives to your account.
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 $42,410. 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 ($33,430 to $49,190) 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 $33,377 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 $33,838 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.