Office Clerks, General in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$43,560
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$9,990
18.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$42,966
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
$53,550
Kept after tax
$43,560
Worth in national money
$42,966
State rank
2
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Colorado is one of the better-paying states for office clerks, general. The middle earner takes $53,550, which ranks 2 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 18.97% above the national middle.
- Against other work in Colorado, this sits in the middle: 320 of 491 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- No great distortion either way. Colorado costs about what the country costs, so from $53,550, take-home of $43,560 is worth roughly $42,966 in national money. The average comes to $56,890, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Colorado ranks 2 of 51 states publishing a median for office clerks, general, at $53,550 — about 18.97% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Office clerks, general ranks 320 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.
- Price parity in Colorado is near the national base, so for office clerks, general, whose median is $53,550, the adjusted figure of $42,966 differs little from $43,560 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $56,890 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Office Clerks, General
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,160 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $53,550 |
| Top tenth earn over | $78,930 |
| This salary | $53,550 |
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 | $43,560 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $45,207 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,556 |
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 | $51,499 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,300 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $53,550 as a midpoint for Colorado, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $38,160 and the ninetieth is $78,930 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Colorado the take-home figure of $43,560, from $53,550, 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 320 of 491 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $42,966, the adjusted value of that $53,550 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 320 of 491 locally.
- The Colorado median of $53,550 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $38,160 to $78,930. 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 $43,560 from $53,550. 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 320 of 491 locally.
- This $42,966 adjusted figure, worked from $53,550, 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 320 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 320 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 $56,890 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?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $38,160, the highest tenth $78,930, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $42,966 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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 $43,560 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.
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 $56,890. 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 ($38,160) and the ninetieth ($78,930) 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 $42,966 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 $43,560 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.