First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$93,069
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$33,741
26.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$91,801
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
$126,810
Kept after tax
$93,069
Worth in national money
$91,801
State rank
10
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Colorado is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $126,810, which ranks 10 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 19.59% above the national middle.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 491 occupations Colorado reports, this job comes in at 44 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $126,810 the take-home is $93,069, which is worth about $91,801 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is lower, $124,850, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- Colorado ranks 10 of 51 states publishing a median for first-line supervisors of police and detectives, at $126,810 — about 19.59% 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.
- First-line supervisors of police and detectives ranks 44 of 491 occupations by median in Colorado, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Colorado's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for first-line supervisors of police and detectives on its $126,810 median: $93,069 retained after tax becomes $91,801 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $124,850 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in wage data.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: First-Line Supervisors of Police and Detectives
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $88,800 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $126,810 |
| Top tenth earn over | $156,310 |
| This salary | $126,810 |
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 | $93,069 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $97,941 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$8,987 |
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 | $119,743 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$12,557 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $126,810 as a midpoint for Colorado, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $88,800 and the ninetieth is $156,310 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $93,069 take-home in Colorado comes from $126,810. 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 44 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $91,801 uses one figure for the whole of Colorado. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 491 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 44.
- The Colorado median of $126,810 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $88,800 to $156,310. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $93,069, from $126,810, 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 44 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 10 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $91,801, worked from $126,810, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Colorado address, on work sitting at 44 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $88,800 and the top tenth $156,310, so most people doing this work in Colorado sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $91,801 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Colorado adds its own income tax on top — which is why $93,069 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($88,800 to $156,310) 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 $91,801 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 $93,069 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.