Hazardous Materials Removal Workers in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$48,398
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$11,522
19.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$47,738
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
$59,920
Kept after tax
$48,398
Worth in national money
$47,738
State rank
8
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 $59,920, which ranks 8 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 21.17% above the national middle.
- Against other work in Colorado, this sits in the middle: 276 of 491 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $59,920 the take-home is $48,398, which is worth about $47,738 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is lower, $58,230, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- Colorado ranks 8 of 51 states publishing a median for hazardous materials removal workers, at $59,920 — about 21.17% 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.
- Hazardous materials removal workers ranks 276 of 491 occupations in Colorado by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Colorado's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for hazardous materials removal workers on its $59,920 median: $48,398 retained after tax becomes $47,738 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $58,230 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Hazardous Materials Removal Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $44,800 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $59,920 |
| Top tenth earn over | $71,870 |
| This salary | $59,920 |
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 | $48,398 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $50,326 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,051 |
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 | $57,520 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,899 |
| 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 $59,920. The published range is $44,800 up to $71,870, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $48,398 take-home in Colorado comes from $59,920. 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 276 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Colorado, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $47,738, the adjusted value of that $59,920 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 276 of 491 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for hazardous materials removal workers in Colorado the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $44,800 to $71,870. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $48,398, from $59,920, 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 276 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 8 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Colorado, so $47,738 — the adjusted value of that $59,920 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 276 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $44,800 at the tenth percentile, $71,870 at the ninetieth.
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 $47,738 of national purchasing power.
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 $48,398 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 ($44,800 to $71,870) 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 $47,738 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 $48,398 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.