Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$51,603
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$12,537
19.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$50,899
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
$64,140
Kept after tax
$51,603
Worth in national money
$50,899
State rank
4
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Colorado pays payroll and timekeeping clerks a middle wage of $64,140, ranking 4 of 51 states and sitting about 10.09% above the national middle.
- Against other work in Colorado, this sits in the middle: 229 of 491 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $64,140, tax leaves $51,603, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $50,899 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $65,400, since top earners drag the number up.
- Colorado's median for payroll and timekeeping clerks is $64,140, about 10.09% above the national figure and 4 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Payroll and timekeeping clerks ranks 229 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.
- Because Colorado sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for payroll and timekeeping clerks — median $64,140 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $51,603 retained, $50,899 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $65,400 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Payroll and Timekeeping Clerks
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $46,590 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $64,140 |
| Top tenth earn over | $88,050 |
| This salary | $64,140 |
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 | $51,603 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $53,716 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,379 |
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 | $61,509 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,296 |
| 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 payroll and timekeeping clerks in Colorado earn under $64,140 and half over. The published range runs $46,590 at the tenth percentile to $88,050 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Colorado's $51,603, worked from $64,140. 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 229 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $50,899 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 229.
- Figures are distribution medians for payroll and timekeeping clerks in Colorado, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $46,590 to $88,050; 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.
- The Colorado take-home of $51,603, on $64,140 for work ranking 229 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 229 of 491 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $50,899, worked from $64,140, 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 229 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $46,590 and the top tenth $88,050, so most people doing this work in Colorado sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $50,899 — 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, $51,603 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($46,590 to $88,050) 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 $50,899 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 $51,603 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.