Light Truck Drivers in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$39,656
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$8,754
18.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$39,115
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
$48,410
Kept after tax
$39,656
Worth in national money
$39,115
State rank
5
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Colorado pays light truck drivers a middle wage of $48,410, ranking 5 of 51 states and sitting about 7.91% above the national middle.
- Within Colorado this is lower-paid work. Of 491 occupations the state publishes figures for, light truck drivers ranks 370. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- No great distortion either way. Colorado costs about what the country costs, so from $48,410, take-home of $39,656 is worth roughly $39,115 in national money. The average comes to $52,270, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Colorado's median for light truck drivers is $48,410, about 7.91% above the national figure and 5 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.
- Against every occupation Colorado reports, light truck drivers ranks 370 of 491, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Price parity in Colorado is near the national base, so for light truck drivers, whose median is $48,410, the adjusted figure of $39,115 differs little from $39,656 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $52,270 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Light Truck Drivers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,230 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $48,410 |
| Top tenth earn over | $82,220 |
| This salary | $48,410 |
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 | $39,656 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $41,077 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,156 |
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 | $46,641 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,817 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $48,410 as a midpoint for Colorado, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $37,230 and the ninetieth is $82,220 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $39,656 take-home in Colorado comes from $48,410. 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 370 of 491.
- Two cautions on $39,115, the adjusted value of that $48,410 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 370 of 491 locally.
- The Colorado median of $48,410 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $37,230 to $82,220. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $39,656, from $48,410, 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 370 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 5 of 51 for it.
- This $39,115 adjusted figure, worked from $48,410, 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 370 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 370 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 $52,270, 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?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $37,230, the highest tenth $82,220, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Colorado costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $39,115 rather than its face figure.
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 $39,656.
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 $52,270. 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 ($37,230) and the ninetieth ($82,220) 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 $39,115 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 $39,656 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.