Human Resources Specialists in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$62,852
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$17,988
22.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$61,996
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
$80,840
Kept after tax
$62,852
Worth in national money
$61,996
State rank
9
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for human resources specialists is strong here. Colorado's middle earner gets $80,840, putting the state 9 of 51 — about 6.45% ahead of the national figure.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Human resources specialists ranks 140 among 491 occupations Colorado publishes pay for.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $80,840, tax leaves $62,852, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $61,996 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $88,440, since top earners drag the number up.
- For human resources specialists, Colorado sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $80,840, ranking 9 of 51 and running about 6.45% 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.
- Position 140 of 491 in Colorado places human resources specialists in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Because Colorado sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for human resources specialists — median $80,840 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $62,852 retained, $61,996 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $88,440 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Human Resources Specialists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $51,290 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $80,840 |
| Top tenth earn over | $133,850 |
| This salary | $80,840 |
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 | $62,852 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $65,701 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,615 |
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 | $76,791 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,757 |
| 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 human resources specialists in Colorado earn under $80,840 and half over. The published range runs $51,290 at the tenth percentile to $133,850 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $62,852 take-home in Colorado comes from $80,840. 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 140 of 491.
- Two cautions on $61,996, the adjusted value of that $80,840 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 140 of 491 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for human resources specialists in Colorado, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $51,290 to $133,850; 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 $62,852, from $80,840, 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 140 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 9 of 51 for it.
- This $61,996 adjusted figure, worked from $80,840, 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 140 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 140 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 $88,440, 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?
The label is broader than the work. From $51,290 at the bottom tenth to $133,850 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $61,996 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 $62,852.
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 $88,440. 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 ($51,290) and the ninetieth ($133,850) 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 $61,996 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 $62,852 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.