Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$43,590
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$10,000
18.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$42,996
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
$53,590
Kept after tax
$43,590
Worth in national money
$42,996
State rank
6
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Colorado is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $53,590, which ranks 6 of 50 states with published figures. That is about 11.07% above the national middle.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 491 occupations Colorado reports figures for, this is number 319.
- No great distortion either way. Colorado costs about what the country costs, so from $53,590, take-home of $43,590 is worth roughly $42,996 in national money. The average comes to $66,000, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Colorado ranks 6 of 50 states publishing a median for coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders, at $53,590 — about 11.07% 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.
- In Colorado's occupational distribution, coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders sits at 319 of 491 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Price parity in Colorado is near the national base, so for coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders, whose median is $53,590, the adjusted figure of $42,996 differs little from $43,590 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $66,000 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Coating, Painting, and Spraying Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $39,150 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $53,590 |
| Top tenth earn over | $101,670 |
| This salary | $53,590 |
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 | $43,590 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $45,240 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,559 |
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 | $51,537 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,304 |
| 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 coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders in Colorado earn under $53,590 and half over. The published range runs $39,150 at the tenth percentile to $101,670 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $43,590 take-home in Colorado comes from $53,590. 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 319 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $42,996 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 319.
- Figures are distribution medians for coating, painting, and spraying machine setters, operators, and tenders in Colorado, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $39,150 to $101,670; 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 $43,590, from $53,590, 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 319 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 6 of 50 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $42,996, worked from $53,590, 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 319 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 $66,000 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $39,150 at the bottom tenth to $101,670 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $42,996 of national purchasing power.
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, $43,590 remains.
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 $66,000. 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 ($39,150) and the ninetieth ($101,670) 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 $42,996 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 $43,590 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.