Commercial Pilots in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$101,300
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$38,380
27.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$99,919
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
$139,680
Kept after tax
$101,300
Worth in national money
$99,919
State rank
8
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Colorado pays commercial pilots a middle wage of $139,680, ranking 8 of 48 states and sitting about 13.36% above the national middle.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 491 occupations Colorado reports, commercial pilots comes in at 25 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $139,680 the take-home is $101,300, which is worth about $99,919 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $152,820, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Colorado's median for commercial pilots is $139,680, about 13.36% above the national figure and 8 of 48 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Commercial pilots ranks 25 of 491 occupations by median in Colorado, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Colorado's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for commercial pilots on its $139,680 median: $101,300 retained after tax becomes $99,919 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $152,820 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Commercial Pilots
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $59,780 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $139,680 |
| Top tenth earn over | $269,630 |
| This salary | $139,680 |
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 | $101,300 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $106,737 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$9,921 |
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 | $131,725 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$14,106 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $139,680 as a midpoint for Colorado, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $59,780 and the ninetieth is $269,630 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $101,300 take-home in Colorado comes from $139,680. 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 25 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Colorado, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $99,919, the adjusted value of that $139,680 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 25 of 491 in the state.
- The Colorado median of $139,680 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $59,780 to $269,630. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $101,300, from $139,680, 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 25 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 8 of 48 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Colorado, so $99,919 — the adjusted value of that $139,680 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 25 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 $152,820, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $59,780 at the bottom tenth to $269,630 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $99,919 — 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 $101,300.
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 48 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $152,820. 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 ($59,780) and the ninetieth ($269,630) 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 $99,919 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 $101,300 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.