Clergy in Colorado

Two armchairs facing each other in a welcoming counseling room.

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$51,269

after federal, FICA and Colorado tax

Tax takes

$12,431

19.5% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$50,570

Colorado costs more than average

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

$63,700

Kept after tax

$51,269

Worth in national money

$50,570

State rank

11

of 50 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • Colorado is one of the better-paying states for clergy. The middle earner takes $63,700, which ranks 11 of 50 states with published figures. That is about 4.75% above the national middle.
  • Ordinary, locally speaking. Clergy ranks 240 among 491 occupations Colorado publishes pay for.
  • No great distortion either way. Colorado costs about what the country costs, so from $63,700, take-home of $51,269 is worth roughly $50,570 in national money. The average comes to $66,160, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
  • Colorado ranks 11 of 50 states publishing a median for clergy, at $63,700 — about 4.75% 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.
  • Position 240 of 491 in Colorado places clergy in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
  • Price parity in Colorado is near the national base, so for clergy, whose median is $63,700, the adjusted figure of $50,570 differs little from $51,269 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $66,160 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.

Compare this career across states

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Pay band: Clergy

The state median for this job

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$50,750
Half earn under$63,700
Top tenth earn over$82,410
This salary$63,700

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

Compare with
+$2,094take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in Colorado$51,269
Take-home in Texas$53,363
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity+$4,345

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

Moving to
$0now · $63,700$58,446
$58,446in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$61,093
You could take a cut of−$5,254
Prices in Texas97 vs 101

State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.

Sources and assumptions
  • Treat $63,700 as a midpoint for Colorado, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $50,750 and the ninetieth is $82,410 — 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 $51,269, worked from $63,700. 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 240 of 491.
  • Two cautions on $50,570, the adjusted value of that $63,700 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 240 of 491 locally.
  • The Colorado median of $63,700 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $50,750 to $82,410. 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 $51,269, on $63,700 for work ranking 240 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 240 of 491 in the state.
  • This $50,570 adjusted figure, worked from $63,700, 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 240 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 240 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 $66,160 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 $50,750 at the bottom tenth to $82,410 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 $50,570 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.

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 $51,269.

Why is this job missing from some states?

The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 50 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 $66,160. 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 ($50,750 to $82,410) 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 $50,570 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 $51,269 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.