History Teachers, Postsecondary in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$61,250
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$17,160
21.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$60,415
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
$78,410
Kept after tax
$61,250
Worth in national money
$60,415
State rank
29
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Colorado is 29 of 45 states for this job, with a middle wage of $78,410. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Against other work in Colorado, this sits in the middle: 152 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 $78,410, take-home of $61,250 is worth roughly $60,415 in national money. The average comes to $84,220, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Colorado ranks 29 of 45 for history teachers, postsecondary at $78,410. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- History teachers, postsecondary ranks 152 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 history teachers, postsecondary, whose median is $78,410, the adjusted figure of $60,415 differs little from $61,250 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $84,220 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: History Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $30,800 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $78,410 |
| Top tenth earn over | $154,440 |
| This salary | $78,410 |
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 | $61,250 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $63,991 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,437 |
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 | $74,513 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,510 |
| 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 history teachers, postsecondary in Colorado earn under $78,410 and half over. The published range runs $30,800 at the tenth percentile to $154,440 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $61,250 take-home in Colorado comes from $78,410. 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 152 of 491.
- Two cautions on $60,415, the adjusted value of that $78,410 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 152 of 491 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for history teachers, postsecondary in Colorado, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $30,800 to $154,440; 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.
- Retained pay of $61,250, from $78,410, 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 152 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 29 of 45 for it.
- This $60,415 adjusted figure, worked from $78,410, 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 152 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 152 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $84,220, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $30,800 and the top tenth $154,440 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $60,415 of national purchasing power.
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 $61,250.
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 45 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 $84,220. 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 ($30,800) and the ninetieth ($154,440) 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 $60,415 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 $61,250 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.