Healthcare Social Workers in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$51,101
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$12,379
19.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$50,405
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
$63,480
Kept after tax
$51,101
Worth in national money
$50,405
State rank
32
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Colorado pays healthcare social workers around $63,480 at the midpoint, 32 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 491 occupations Colorado reports figures for, this is number 243.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $63,480, tax leaves $51,101, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $50,405 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $67,170, since top earners drag the number up.
- For healthcare social workers the Colorado median is $63,480, ranking 32 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- In Colorado's occupational distribution, healthcare social workers sits at 243 of 491 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Because Colorado sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for healthcare social workers — median $63,480 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $51,101 retained, $50,405 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $67,170 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Healthcare Social Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $45,810 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $63,480 |
| Top tenth earn over | $95,230 |
| This salary | $63,480 |
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 | $51,101 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $53,186 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,328 |
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 | $60,885 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,234 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of healthcare social workers in Colorado earn under $63,480 and half over. The published range runs $45,810 at the tenth percentile to $95,230 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Colorado's $51,101, worked from $63,480. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 243 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Colorado, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $50,405, the adjusted value of that $63,480 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 243 of 491 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for healthcare social workers in Colorado, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $45,810 to $95,230; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- The Colorado take-home of $51,101, on $63,480 for work ranking 243 of 491 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 243 of 491 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Colorado, so $50,405 — the adjusted value of that $63,480 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 243 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 $67,170, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $45,810 at the bottom tenth to $95,230 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $50,405 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 $51,101 of this wage survives to your account.
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 $67,170. 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 ($45,810) and the ninetieth ($95,230) 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 $50,405 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 $51,101 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.