Medical Equipment Preparers in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$39,117
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$8,583
18.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$38,583
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
$47,700
Kept after tax
$39,117
Worth in national money
$38,583
State rank
21
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Colorado sits in the middle of the pack for medical equipment preparers. The median is $47,700, ranking 21 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Measured against other jobs in Colorado, this one sits low: 379 of 491 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $47,700 the take-home is $39,117, which is worth about $38,583 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $49,190, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Colorado occupies the middle band for medical equipment preparers: a median of $47,700, ranking 21 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Medical equipment preparers occupies position 379 of 491 in Colorado's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Colorado's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for medical equipment preparers on its $47,700 median: $39,117 retained after tax becomes $38,583 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $49,190 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Medical Equipment Preparers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $35,760 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $47,700 |
| Top tenth earn over | $65,170 |
| This salary | $47,700 |
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 | $39,117 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,507 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,101 |
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 | $45,970 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,751 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $47,700 as a midpoint for Colorado, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $35,760 and the ninetieth is $65,170 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Colorado's $39,117, worked from $47,700. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 379 of 491.
- Two cautions on $38,583, the adjusted value of that $47,700 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 379 of 491 locally.
- The Colorado median of $47,700 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $35,760 to $65,170. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Colorado take-home of $39,117, on $47,700 for work ranking 379 of 491 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 379 of 491 in the state.
- This $38,583 adjusted figure, worked from $47,700, 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 379 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 379 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $49,190, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $35,760 at the bottom tenth to $65,170 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $38,583 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 $39,117.
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 $49,190. 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 ($35,760 to $65,170) 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 $38,583 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 $39,117 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.