Health Specialties Teachers, Postsecondary in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$99,541
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$37,389
27.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$98,184
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
$136,930
Kept after tax
$99,541
Worth in national money
$98,184
State rank
6
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Colorado's middle earner gets $136,930, putting the state 6 of 50 — about 27.6% ahead of the national figure.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Colorado. It ranks 29 out of 491 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $136,930 the take-home is $99,541, which is worth about $98,184 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $186,460, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For health specialties teachers, postsecondary, Colorado sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $136,930, ranking 6 of 50 and running about 27.6% 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.
- Within Colorado, health specialties teachers, postsecondary ranks 29 of 491 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Colorado's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for health specialties teachers, postsecondary on its $136,930 median: $99,541 retained after tax becomes $98,184 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $186,460 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Health Specialties Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $69,890 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $136,930 |
| Top tenth earn over | $360,240 |
| This salary | $136,930 |
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 | $99,541 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $104,858 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$9,722 |
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 | $129,152 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$13,822 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $136,930 as a midpoint for Colorado, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $69,890 and the ninetieth is $360,240 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $99,541 take-home in Colorado comes from $136,930. 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 29 of 491.
- Two cautions on $98,184, the adjusted value of that $136,930 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 29 of 491 locally.
- The Colorado median of $136,930 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $69,890 to $360,240. 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 $99,541, from $136,930, 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 29 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 6 of 50 for it.
- This $98,184 adjusted figure, worked from $136,930, 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 29 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 29 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 $186,460, 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 $69,890, the highest tenth $360,240, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $98,184 rather than its face figure.
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 $99,541 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 50 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $186,460. 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 ($69,890) and the ninetieth ($360,240) 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 $98,184 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 $99,541 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.