Health Education Specialists in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$58,440
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$15,710
21.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$57,644
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
$74,150
Kept after tax
$58,440
Worth in national money
$57,644
State rank
10
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Colorado is one of the better-paying states for health education specialists. The middle earner takes $74,150, which ranks 10 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 15.73% above the national middle.
- Against other work in Colorado, this sits in the middle: 184 of 491 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- No great distortion either way. Colorado costs about what the country costs, so from $74,150, take-home of $58,440 is worth roughly $57,644 in national money. The average comes to $77,470, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Colorado ranks 10 of 51 states publishing a median for health education specialists, at $74,150 — about 15.73% 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.
- Health education specialists ranks 184 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.
- Price parity in Colorado is near the national base, so for health education specialists, whose median is $74,150, the adjusted figure of $57,644 differs little from $58,440 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $77,470 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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: Health Education Specialists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $41,710 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $74,150 |
| Top tenth earn over | $117,170 |
| This salary | $74,150 |
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 | $58,440 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $60,995 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,124 |
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 | $70,519 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,078 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $74,150 as a midpoint for Colorado, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $41,710 and the ninetieth is $117,170 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $58,440 take-home in Colorado comes from $74,150. 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 184 of 491.
- Two cautions on $57,644, the adjusted value of that $74,150 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 184 of 491 locally.
- The Colorado median of $74,150 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $41,710 to $117,170. 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 $58,440, from $74,150, 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 184 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 10 of 51 for it.
- This $57,644 adjusted figure, worked from $74,150, 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 184 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 184 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 $77,470, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $41,710, the highest tenth $117,170, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $57,644 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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 $58,440.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
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 $77,470. 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 ($41,710) and the ninetieth ($117,170) 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 $57,644 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 $58,440 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.