Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,489
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$5,851
16.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$30,073
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
$36,340
Kept after tax
$30,489
Worth in national money
$30,073
State rank
8
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Colorado is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $36,340, which ranks 8 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 16.47% above the national middle.
- Against 491 occupations Colorado publishes, this job lands at 485. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $36,340, tax leaves $30,489, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $30,073 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $39,250, since top earners drag the number up.
- Colorado ranks 8 of 51 states publishing a median for hosts and hostesses, restaurant, lounge, and coffee shop, at $36,340 — about 16.47% 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.
- Within Colorado, this work ranks 485 of 491 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Because Colorado sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for hosts and hostesses, restaurant, lounge, and coffee shop — median $36,340 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $30,489 retained, $30,073 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $39,250 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $30,800 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $36,340 |
| Top tenth earn over | $55,660 |
| This salary | $36,340 |
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 | $30,489 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,379 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,218 |
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 | $35,232 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,683 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $36,340 as a midpoint for Colorado, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $30,800 and the ninetieth is $55,660 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Colorado's $30,489, worked from $36,340. 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 485 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Colorado, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $30,073, the adjusted value of that $36,340 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 485 of 491 in the state.
- The Colorado median of $36,340 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $30,800 to $55,660. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Colorado take-home of $30,489, on $36,340 for work ranking 485 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 485 of 491 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Colorado, so $30,073 — the adjusted value of that $36,340 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 485 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 $39,250, 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 $30,800 at the bottom tenth to $55,660 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 $30,073 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 $30,489.
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 $39,250. 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 ($30,800 to $55,660) 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 $30,073 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 $30,489 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.