Materials Engineers in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$91,292
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$32,738
26.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$90,047
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
$124,030
Kept after tax
$91,292
Worth in national money
$90,047
State rank
9
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Colorado pays materials engineers a middle wage of $124,030, ranking 9 of 45 states and sitting about 9.9% above the national middle.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Colorado. It ranks 49 out of 491 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $124,030, tax leaves $91,292, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $90,047 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $125,720, since top earners drag the number up.
- Colorado's median for materials engineers is $124,030, about 9.9% above the national figure and 9 of 45 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, materials engineers ranks 49 of 491 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Because Colorado sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for materials engineers — median $124,030 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $91,292 retained, $90,047 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $125,720 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Materials Engineers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $64,710 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $124,030 |
| Top tenth earn over | $180,500 |
| This salary | $124,030 |
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 | $91,292 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $96,041 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$8,785 |
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 | $117,216 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$12,199 |
| 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 materials engineers in Colorado earn under $124,030 and half over. The published range runs $64,710 at the tenth percentile to $180,500 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Colorado the take-home figure of $91,292, from $124,030, 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 49 of 491 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Colorado, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $90,047, the adjusted value of that $124,030 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 49 of 491 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for materials engineers in Colorado, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $64,710 to $180,500; 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 $91,292 from $124,030. 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 49 of 491 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Colorado, so $90,047 — the adjusted value of that $124,030 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 49 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $64,710, the highest tenth $180,500, 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 $90,047 rather than its face figure.
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, $91,292 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 45 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($64,710) and the ninetieth ($180,500) 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 $90,047 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 $91,292 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.