Forest and Conservation Technicians in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$46,598
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$10,952
19.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$45,962
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
$57,550
Kept after tax
$46,598
Worth in national money
$45,962
State rank
9
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Colorado is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $57,550, which ranks 9 of 45 states with published figures. That is about 5.48% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 298 among 491 occupations Colorado publishes pay for.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $57,550, tax leaves $46,598, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $45,962 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $62,090, since top earners drag the number up.
- Colorado ranks 9 of 45 states publishing a median for forest and conservation technicians, at $57,550 — about 5.48% 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.
- Position 298 of 491 in Colorado places forest and conservation technicians in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Because Colorado sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for forest and conservation technicians — median $57,550 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $46,598 retained, $45,962 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $62,090 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Forest and Conservation Technicians
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $44,950 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $57,550 |
| Top tenth earn over | $84,150 |
| This salary | $57,550 |
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 | $46,598 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $48,421 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,867 |
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 | $55,280 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,676 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $57,550 as a midpoint for Colorado, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $44,950 and the ninetieth is $84,150 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Colorado the take-home figure of $46,598, from $57,550, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 298 of 491 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $45,962, the adjusted value of that $57,550 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 298 of 491 locally.
- The Colorado median of $57,550 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $44,950 to $84,150. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Colorado is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $46,598 from $57,550. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 298 of 491 locally.
- This $45,962 adjusted figure, worked from $57,550, 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 298 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 298 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 $62,090, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $44,950 and the top tenth $84,150, 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 $45,962 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 $46,598.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 45 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $62,090. 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 ($44,950 to $84,150) 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 $45,962 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 $46,598 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.