Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$52,727
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$12,893
19.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$52,008
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
$65,620
Kept after tax
$52,727
Worth in national money
$52,008
State rank
12
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Colorado's middle earner gets $65,620, putting the state 12 of 51 — about 8.86% ahead of the national figure.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 218 among 491 occupations Colorado publishes pay for.
- No great distortion either way. Colorado costs about what the country costs, so from $65,620, take-home of $52,727 is worth roughly $52,008 in national money. The average comes to $69,200, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For mental health and substance abuse social workers, Colorado sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $65,620, ranking 12 of 51 and running about 8.86% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Position 218 of 491 in Colorado places mental health and substance abuse social workers in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Price parity in Colorado is near the national base, so for mental health and substance abuse social workers, whose median is $65,620, the adjusted figure of $52,008 differs little from $52,727 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $69,200 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $47,100 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $65,620 |
| Top tenth earn over | $95,950 |
| This salary | $65,620 |
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 | $52,727 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $54,906 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,494 |
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 | $62,908 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,435 |
| 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 mental health and substance abuse social workers in Colorado earn under $65,620 and half over. The published range runs $47,100 at the tenth percentile to $95,950 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $52,727 take-home in Colorado comes from $65,620. 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 218 of 491.
- Two cautions on $52,008, the adjusted value of that $65,620 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 218 of 491 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for mental health and substance abuse social workers in Colorado, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $47,100 to $95,950; 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 $52,727, from $65,620, 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 218 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 12 of 51 for it.
- This $52,008 adjusted figure, worked from $65,620, 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 218 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 218 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 $69,200 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $47,100 and the top tenth $95,950 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $52,008 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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, $52,727 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 $69,200. 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 ($47,100) and the ninetieth ($95,950) 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 $52,008 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 $52,727 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.