Cooks, Restaurant in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$34,484
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$7,116
17.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,014
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
$41,600
Kept after tax
$34,484
Worth in national money
$34,014
State rank
10
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for cooks, restaurant is strong here. Colorado's middle earner gets $41,600, putting the state 10 of 51 — about 11.26% ahead of the national figure.
- Against 491 occupations Colorado publishes, cooks, restaurant lands at 449. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $41,600, tax leaves $34,484, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $34,014 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $42,360, since top earners drag the number up.
- For cooks, restaurant, Colorado sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $41,600, ranking 10 of 51 and running about 11.26% 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 449 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 cooks, restaurant — median $41,600 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $34,484 retained, $34,014 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $42,360 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Cooks, Restaurant
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $34,590 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $41,600 |
| Top tenth earn over | $49,650 |
| This salary | $41,600 |
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 | $34,484 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $35,606 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,627 |
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 | $40,204 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,177 |
| 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 cooks, restaurant in Colorado earn under $41,600 and half over. The published range runs $34,590 at the tenth percentile to $49,650 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Colorado the take-home figure of $34,484, from $41,600, 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 449 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 $34,014 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 449.
- Figures are distribution medians for cooks, restaurant in Colorado, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $34,590 to $49,650; 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.
- Take-home for Colorado is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $34,484 from $41,600. 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 449 of 491 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $34,014, worked from $41,600, 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 449 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $34,590 and the top tenth $49,650, so most people doing this work in Colorado sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $34,014 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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, $34,484 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($34,590 to $49,650) 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 $34,014 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 $34,484 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.