Locksmiths and Safe Repairers in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,965
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$8,535
18.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$38,433
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
$47,500
Kept after tax
$38,965
Worth in national money
$38,433
State rank
34
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for locksmiths and safe repairers is on the low side in Colorado. The middle earner gets $47,500. That is 34 of 48 states, and about 7.44% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 491 occupations Colorado publishes, locksmiths and safe repairers lands at 384. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- No great distortion either way. Colorado costs about what the country costs, so from $47,500, take-home of $38,965 is worth roughly $38,433 in national money. The average comes to $50,460, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For locksmiths and safe repairers, Colorado sits in the lower band at $47,500, ranking 34 of 48 and trailing the national median by about 7.44%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Colorado, this work ranks 384 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.
- Price parity in Colorado is near the national base, so for locksmiths and safe repairers, whose median is $47,500, the adjusted figure of $38,433 differs little from $38,965 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $50,460 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Locksmiths and Safe Repairers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $35,530 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $47,500 |
| Top tenth earn over | $70,840 |
| This salary | $47,500 |
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 | $38,965 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,346 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,086 |
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 | $45,781 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,732 |
| 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 locksmiths and safe repairers in Colorado earn under $47,500 and half over. The published range runs $35,530 at the tenth percentile to $70,840 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $38,965 take-home in Colorado comes from $47,500. 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 384 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $38,433 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 384.
- Figures are distribution medians for locksmiths and safe repairers in Colorado, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $35,530 to $70,840; 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 $38,965, from $47,500, 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 384 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 34 of 48 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $38,433, worked from $47,500, 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 384 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 $50,460 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $35,530 at the bottom tenth to $70,840 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 $38,433 of national purchasing power.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Colorado's own levy, $38,965 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 48 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release 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 $50,460. 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 ($35,530) and the ninetieth ($70,840) 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 $38,433 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 $38,965 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.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.