Database Administrators in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$87,584
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$30,756
26.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$86,390
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
$118,340
Kept after tax
$87,584
Worth in national money
$86,390
State rank
6
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for database administrators is strong here. Colorado's middle earner gets $118,340, putting the state 6 of 51 — about 13.11% ahead of the national figure.
- Within Colorado this is well-paid work. Of 491 occupations with published figures in the state, database administrators ranks 56 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $118,340 the take-home is $87,584, which is worth about $86,390 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is lower, $115,130, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- For database administrators, Colorado sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $118,340, ranking 6 of 51 and running about 13.11% 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.
- Ranked against every occupation Colorado publishes a median for, database administrators sits 56 of 491 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Colorado's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for database administrators on its $118,340 median: $87,584 retained after tax becomes $86,390 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $115,130 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Database Administrators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $61,930 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $118,340 |
| Top tenth earn over | $164,780 |
| This salary | $118,340 |
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 | $87,584 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $92,082 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$8,369 |
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 | $111,945 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$11,561 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Colorado earn less than $118,340. The published range is $61,930 up to $164,780, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $87,584 take-home in Colorado comes from $118,340. 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 56 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Colorado, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $86,390, the adjusted value of that $118,340 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 56 of 491 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for database administrators in Colorado the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $61,930 to $164,780. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $87,584, from $118,340, 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 56 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 6 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Colorado, so $86,390 — the adjusted value of that $118,340 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 56 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $61,930 at the bottom tenth to $164,780 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 $86,390 — 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, $87,584 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($61,930) and the ninetieth ($164,780) 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 $86,390 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 $87,584 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.