Nurse Practitioners in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$96,983
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$35,947
27.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$95,661
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
$132,930
Kept after tax
$96,983
Worth in national money
$95,661
State rank
20
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Colorado pays nurse practitioners around $132,930 at the midpoint, 20 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 491 occupations Colorado reports, nurse practitioners comes in at 34 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- No great distortion either way. Colorado costs about what the country costs, so from $132,930, take-home of $96,983 is worth roughly $95,661 in national money. The average lands at $132,540, below the middle of the range.
- For nurse practitioners the Colorado median is $132,930, ranking 20 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Nurse practitioners ranks 34 of 491 occupations by median in Colorado, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Price parity in Colorado is near the national base, so for nurse practitioners, whose median is $132,930, the adjusted figure of $95,661 differs little from $96,983 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $132,540 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Nurse Practitioners
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $87,770 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $132,930 |
| Top tenth earn over | $170,310 |
| This salary | $132,930 |
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 | $96,983 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $102,124 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$9,431 |
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 | $125,409 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$13,344 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $132,930 as a midpoint for Colorado, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $87,770 and the ninetieth is $170,310 — 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 $96,983, worked from $132,930. 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 34 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $95,661 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 34.
- The Colorado median of $132,930 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $87,770 to $170,310. 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 $96,983, on $132,930 for work ranking 34 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 34 of 491 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $95,661, worked from $132,930, 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 34 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $87,770 at the bottom tenth to $170,310 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 $95,661 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 $96,983 of this wage survives to your account.
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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($87,770 to $170,310) 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 $95,661 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 $96,983 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.