Education Administrators, Postsecondary in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$87,650
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$30,790
26.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$86,455
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
$118,440
Kept after tax
$87,650
Worth in national money
$86,455
State rank
14
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Colorado pays this job a middle wage of $118,440, ranking 14 of 51 states and sitting about 13.24% above the national middle.
- Within Colorado this is well-paid work. Of 491 occupations with published figures in the state, this job ranks 55 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $118,440 the take-home is $87,650, which is worth about $86,455 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $142,720, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Colorado's median for education administrators, postsecondary is $118,440, about 13.24% above the national figure and 14 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.
- Ranked against every occupation Colorado publishes a median for, education administrators, postsecondary sits 55 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 education administrators, postsecondary on its $118,440 median: $87,650 retained after tax becomes $86,455 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $142,720 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Education Administrators, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $80,740 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $118,440 |
| Top tenth earn over | $239,370 |
| This salary | $118,440 |
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 | $87,650 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $92,153 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$8,377 |
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 | $112,039 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$11,571 |
| 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 education administrators, postsecondary in Colorado earn under $118,440 and half over. The published range runs $80,740 at the tenth percentile to $239,370 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 $87,650, worked from $118,440. 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 55 of 491.
- Two cautions on $86,455, the adjusted value of that $118,440 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 55 of 491 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for education administrators, postsecondary in Colorado, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $80,740 to $239,370; 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 $87,650, on $118,440 for work ranking 55 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 55 of 491 in the state.
- This $86,455 adjusted figure, worked from $118,440, 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 55 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 55 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 $142,720, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $80,740 and the top tenth $239,370 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $86,455 of national purchasing power.
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 $87,650.
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 $142,720. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($80,740) and the ninetieth ($239,370) 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 $86,455 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 $87,650 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.