Hairdressers, Hairstylists, and Cosmetologists in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,514
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$6,176
16.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$31,084
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
$37,690
Kept after tax
$31,514
Worth in national money
$31,084
State rank
13
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Colorado's middle earner gets $37,690, putting the state 13 of 50 — about 5.31% ahead of the national figure.
- Measured against other jobs in Colorado, this one sits low: 473 of 491 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $37,690, tax leaves $31,514, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $31,084 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $51,590, since top earners drag the number up.
- For hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists, Colorado sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $37,690, ranking 13 of 50 and running about 5.31% 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.
- Hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists occupies position 473 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 hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists — median $37,690 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $31,514 retained, $31,084 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $51,590 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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: Hairdressers, Hairstylists, and Cosmetologists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,520 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $37,690 |
| Top tenth earn over | $98,860 |
| This salary | $37,690 |
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 | $31,514 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $32,464 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,323 |
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 | $36,508 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,810 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $37,690 as a midpoint for Colorado, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $31,520 and the ninetieth is $98,860 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Colorado the take-home figure of $31,514, from $37,690, 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 473 of 491 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $31,084 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 473.
- The Colorado median of $37,690 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $31,520 to $98,860. 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 $31,514 from $37,690. 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 473 of 491 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $31,084, worked from $37,690, 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 473 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 $51,590, 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 $31,520 and the top tenth $98,860 — 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 $31,084 rather than its face figure.
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 $31,514.
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 50 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 $51,590. 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 ($31,520) and the ninetieth ($98,860) 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 $31,084 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 $31,514 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.