Middle School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$51,314
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$12,446
19.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$50,615
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
$63,760
Kept after tax
$51,314
Worth in national money
$50,615
State rank
24
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Colorado sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $63,760, ranking 24 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Against other work in Colorado, this sits in the middle: 238 of 491 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $63,760 the take-home is $51,314, which is worth about $50,615 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $70,440, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Colorado occupies the middle band for middle school teachers, except special and career/technical education: a median of $63,760, ranking 24 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.
- Middle school teachers, except special and career/technical education ranks 238 of 491 occupations in Colorado by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Colorado's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for middle school teachers, except special and career/technical education on its $63,760 median: $51,314 retained after tax becomes $50,615 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $70,440 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Middle School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $49,580 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $63,760 |
| Top tenth earn over | $99,400 |
| This salary | $63,760 |
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 | $51,314 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $53,411 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,349 |
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 | $61,150 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,260 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $63,760 as a midpoint for Colorado, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $49,580 and the ninetieth is $99,400 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Colorado the take-home figure of $51,314, from $63,760, 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 238 of 491 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $50,615 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 238.
- The Colorado median of $63,760 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $49,580 to $99,400. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Colorado is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $51,314 from $63,760. 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 238 of 491 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $50,615, worked from $63,760, 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 238 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 $70,440, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $49,580, the highest tenth $99,400, 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 $50,615 rather than its face figure.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Colorado adds its own income tax on top — which is why $51,314 of this wage survives to your account.
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 $70,440. 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 ($49,580) and the ninetieth ($99,400) 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 $50,615 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 $51,314 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.