Construction Laborers in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$39,268
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$8,632
18.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$38,733
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
$47,900
Kept after tax
$39,268
Worth in national money
$38,733
State rank
26
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Colorado pays construction laborers around $47,900 at the midpoint, 26 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 491 occupations Colorado publishes, construction laborers lands at 375. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $47,900, tax leaves $39,268, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $38,733 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $49,830, since top earners drag the number up.
- For construction laborers the Colorado median is $47,900, ranking 26 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Within Colorado, this work ranks 375 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 construction laborers — median $47,900 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $39,268 retained, $38,733 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $49,830 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Construction Laborers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,410 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $47,900 |
| Top tenth earn over | $62,010 |
| This salary | $47,900 |
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 | $39,268 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,668 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,117 |
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 | $46,159 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,769 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $47,900 as a midpoint for Colorado, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $38,410 and the ninetieth is $62,010 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Colorado the take-home figure of $39,268, from $47,900, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 375 of 491 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $38,733 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 375.
- The Colorado median of $47,900 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $38,410 to $62,010. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Colorado is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $39,268 from $47,900. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 375 of 491 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $38,733, worked from $47,900, 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 375 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 $49,830, 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 $38,410 at the bottom tenth to $62,010 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $38,733 rather than its face figure.
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 $39,268.
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 $49,830. 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 ($38,410 to $62,010) 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 $38,733 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 $39,268 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.