Financial Managers in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$128,805
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$53,885
29.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$127,049
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
$182,690
Kept after tax
$128,805
Worth in national money
$127,049
State rank
6
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Colorado pays financial managers a middle wage of $182,690, ranking 6 of 51 states and sitting about 9.68% above the national middle.
- Within Colorado this is well-paid work. Of 491 occupations with published figures in the state, financial managers ranks 9 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $182,690, tax leaves $128,805, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $127,049 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $209,360, since top earners drag the number up.
- Colorado's median for financial managers is $182,690, about 9.68% above the national figure and 6 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, financial managers sits 9 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.
- Because Colorado sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for financial managers — median $182,690 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $128,805 retained, $127,049 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $209,360 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Financial Managers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $123,900 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $182,690 |
| Top tenth earn over | $339,290 |
| This salary | $182,690 |
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 | $128,805 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $136,135 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$13,043 |
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 | $171,966 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$18,544 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $182,690 as a midpoint for Colorado, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $123,900 and the ninetieth is $339,290 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Colorado's $128,805, worked from $182,690. 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 9 of 491.
- Two cautions on $127,049, the adjusted value of that $182,690 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 9 of 491 locally.
- The Colorado median of $182,690 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $123,900 to $339,290. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Colorado take-home of $128,805, on $182,690 for work ranking 9 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 9 of 491 in the state.
- This $127,049 adjusted figure, worked from $182,690, 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 9 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 9 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 $209,360, 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 $123,900 and the top tenth $339,290 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $127,049 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, $128,805 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.
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 $209,360. 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 ($123,900) and the ninetieth ($339,290) 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 $127,049 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 $128,805 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.