Crane and Tower Operators in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$60,399
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$16,721
21.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$59,576
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
$77,120
Kept after tax
$60,399
Worth in national money
$59,576
State rank
17
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Colorado pays crane and tower operators around $77,120 at the midpoint, 17 of 50 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Crane and tower operators ranks 163 among 491 occupations Colorado publishes pay for.
- No great distortion either way. Colorado costs about what the country costs, so from $77,120, take-home of $60,399 is worth roughly $59,576 in national money. The average lands at $76,030, below the middle of the range.
- For crane and tower operators the Colorado median is $77,120, ranking 17 of 50 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.
- Position 163 of 491 in Colorado places crane and tower operators 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 crane and tower operators, whose median is $77,120, the adjusted figure of $59,576 differs little from $60,399 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $76,030 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
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Pay band: Crane and Tower Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $57,800 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $77,120 |
| Top tenth earn over | $97,470 |
| This salary | $77,120 |
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 | $60,399 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $63,084 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,342 |
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 | $73,304 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,379 |
| 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 crane and tower operators in Colorado earn under $77,120 and half over. The published range runs $57,800 at the tenth percentile to $97,470 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Colorado's $60,399, worked from $77,120. 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 163 of 491.
- Two cautions on $59,576, the adjusted value of that $77,120 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 163 of 491 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for crane and tower operators in Colorado, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $57,800 to $97,470; 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.
- The Colorado take-home of $60,399, on $77,120 for work ranking 163 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 163 of 491 in the state.
- This $59,576 adjusted figure, worked from $77,120, 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 163 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 163 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $57,800 and the top tenth $97,470, 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 $59,576 — 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, $60,399 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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($57,800 to $97,470) 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 $59,576 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 $60,399 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.