Dishwashers in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,628
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$6,212
16.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$31,197
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
$37,840
Kept after tax
$31,628
Worth in national money
$31,197
State rank
4
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Colorado pays dishwashers a middle wage of $37,840, ranking 4 of 51 states and sitting about 8.7% above the national middle.
- Against 491 occupations Colorado publishes, dishwashers lands at 471. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $37,840, tax leaves $31,628, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $31,197 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $38,000, since top earners drag the number up.
- Colorado's median for dishwashers is $37,840, about 8.7% above the national figure and 4 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Within Colorado, this work ranks 471 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 dishwashers — median $37,840 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $31,628 retained, $31,197 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $38,000 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Dishwashers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $30,900 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $37,840 |
| Top tenth earn over | $45,340 |
| This salary | $37,840 |
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 | $31,628 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $32,584 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,335 |
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 | $36,650 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,824 |
| 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 dishwashers in Colorado earn under $37,840 and half over. The published range runs $30,900 at the tenth percentile to $45,340 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Colorado the take-home figure of $31,628, from $37,840, 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 471 of 491 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $31,197, the adjusted value of that $37,840 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 471 of 491 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for dishwashers in Colorado, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $30,900 to $45,340; 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 $31,628 from $37,840. 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 471 of 491 locally.
- This $31,197 adjusted figure, worked from $37,840, 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 471 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 471 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $30,900 and the top tenth $45,340, so most people doing this work in Colorado sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $31,197 rather than its face figure.
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, $31,628 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 ($30,900 to $45,340) 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 $31,197 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 $31,628 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.