Electrical Engineers in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$89,180
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$31,580
26.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$87,964
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
$120,760
Kept after tax
$89,180
Worth in national money
$87,964
State rank
16
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Colorado is one of the better-paying states for electrical engineers. The middle earner takes $120,760, which ranks 16 of 49 states with published figures. That is about 0.11% above the national middle.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Colorado. It ranks 53 out of 491 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $120,760 the take-home is $89,180, which is worth about $87,964 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $126,480, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Colorado ranks 16 of 49 states publishing a median for electrical engineers, at $120,760 — about 0.11% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Within Colorado, electrical engineers ranks 53 of 491 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Colorado's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for electrical engineers on its $120,760 median: $89,180 retained after tax becomes $87,964 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $126,480 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Electrical Engineers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $81,720 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $120,760 |
| Top tenth earn over | $177,310 |
| This salary | $120,760 |
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 | $89,180 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $93,785 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$8,547 |
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 | $114,214 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$11,806 |
| 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 electrical engineers in Colorado earn under $120,760 and half over. The published range runs $81,720 at the tenth percentile to $177,310 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 $89,180, worked from $120,760. 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 53 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Colorado, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $87,964, the adjusted value of that $120,760 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 53 of 491 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for electrical engineers in Colorado, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $81,720 to $177,310; 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 $89,180, on $120,760 for work ranking 53 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 53 of 491 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Colorado, so $87,964 — the adjusted value of that $120,760 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 53 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $126,480, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $81,720, the highest tenth $177,310, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $87,964 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 $89,180.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 49 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release 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 $126,480. 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 ($81,720) and the ninetieth ($177,310) 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 $87,964 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 $89,180 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.