Home Health and Personal Care Aides in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$32,160
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$6,380
16.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$31,721
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
$38,540
Kept after tax
$32,160
Worth in national money
$31,721
State rank
13
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Colorado is one of the better-paying states for home health and personal care aides. The middle earner takes $38,540, which ranks 13 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 7.65% above the national middle.
- Measured against other jobs in Colorado, this one sits low: 464 of 491 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $38,540, tax leaves $32,160, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $31,721 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $40,240, since top earners drag the number up.
- Colorado ranks 13 of 51 states publishing a median for home health and personal care aides, at $38,540 — about 7.65% 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.
- Home health and personal care aides occupies position 464 of 491 in Colorado's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Because Colorado sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for home health and personal care aides — median $38,540 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $32,160 retained, $31,721 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $40,240 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Home Health and Personal Care Aides
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $35,420 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $38,540 |
| Top tenth earn over | $46,630 |
| This salary | $38,540 |
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 | $32,160 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $33,147 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,389 |
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 | $37,311 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,890 |
| 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 $38,540. The published range is $35,420 up to $46,630, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Colorado's $32,160, worked from $38,540. 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 464 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $31,721 uses one figure for the whole of Colorado. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 491 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 464.
- Reported values are medians; for home health and personal care aides in Colorado the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $35,420 to $46,630. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Colorado take-home of $32,160, on $38,540 for work ranking 464 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 464 of 491 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $31,721, worked from $38,540, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Colorado address, on work sitting at 464 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 $40,240, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $35,420 at the bottom tenth to $46,630 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $31,721 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 $32,160.
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 $40,240. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($35,420 to $46,630) 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 $31,721 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 $32,160 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.