Food Servers, Nonrestaurant in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$32,433
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$6,467
16.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$31,991
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
$38,900
Kept after tax
$32,433
Worth in national money
$31,991
State rank
3
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for food servers, nonrestaurant is strong here. Colorado's middle earner gets $38,900, putting the state 3 of 51 — about 10.01% ahead of the national figure.
- Measured against other jobs in Colorado, this one sits low: 461 of 491 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $38,900, tax leaves $32,433, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $31,991 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $40,920, since top earners drag the number up.
- For food servers, nonrestaurant, Colorado sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $38,900, ranking 3 of 51 and running about 10.01% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Food servers, nonrestaurant occupies position 461 of 491 in Colorado's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Because Colorado sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for food servers, nonrestaurant — median $38,900 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $32,433 retained, $31,991 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $40,920 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Food Servers, Nonrestaurant
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,860 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $38,900 |
| Top tenth earn over | $51,440 |
| This salary | $38,900 |
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 | $32,433 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $33,436 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,417 |
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 | $37,651 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,924 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Colorado earn less than $38,900. The published range is $31,860 up to $51,440, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $32,433 take-home in Colorado comes from $38,900. 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 461 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Colorado, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $31,991, the adjusted value of that $38,900 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 461 of 491 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for food servers, nonrestaurant in Colorado the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $31,860 to $51,440. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $32,433, from $38,900, 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 461 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 3 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Colorado, so $31,991 — the adjusted value of that $38,900 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 461 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 $40,920, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $31,860 and the top tenth $51,440, so most people doing this work in Colorado sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $31,991 of national purchasing power.
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, $32,433 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 $40,920. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($31,860 to $51,440) 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 $31,991 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 $32,433 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.