Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$29,957
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$5,683
15.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$29,549
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
$35,640
Kept after tax
$29,957
Worth in national money
$29,549
State rank
11
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Colorado pays this job a middle wage of $35,640, ranking 11 of 51 states and sitting about 6.13% above the national middle.
- Against 491 occupations Colorado publishes, this job lands at 490. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $35,640, tax leaves $29,957, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $29,549 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $36,900, since top earners drag the number up.
- Colorado's median for lifeguards, ski patrol, and other recreational protective service workers is $35,640, about 6.13% above the national figure and 11 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Within Colorado, this work ranks 490 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 lifeguards, ski patrol, and other recreational protective service workers — median $35,640 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $29,957 retained, $29,549 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $36,900 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,870 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $35,640 |
| Top tenth earn over | $43,280 |
| This salary | $35,640 |
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 | $29,957 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $30,817 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,164 |
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 | $34,570 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,617 |
| 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 lifeguards, ski patrol, and other recreational protective service workers in Colorado earn under $35,640 and half over. The published range runs $31,870 at the tenth percentile to $43,280 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Colorado the take-home figure of $29,957, from $35,640, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 490 of 491 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $29,549, the adjusted value of that $35,640 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 490 of 491 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for lifeguards, ski patrol, and other recreational protective service workers in Colorado, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $31,870 to $43,280; 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.
- Take-home for Colorado is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $29,957 from $35,640. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 490 of 491 locally.
- This $29,549 adjusted figure, worked from $35,640, 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 490 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 490 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $36,900 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $31,870 and the top tenth $43,280, so most people doing this work in Colorado sit within a fairly tight band.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Colorado run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $29,549 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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 $29,957.
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 $36,900. 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 ($31,870 to $43,280) 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 $29,549 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 $29,957 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.