Pharmacists in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$111,756
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$44,274
28.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$110,232
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
$156,030
Kept after tax
$111,756
Worth in national money
$110,232
State rank
7
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Colorado is one of the better-paying states for pharmacists. The middle earner takes $156,030, which ranks 7 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 10.73% above the national middle.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 491 occupations Colorado reports, pharmacists comes in at 19 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $156,030 the take-home is $111,756, which is worth about $110,232 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is lower, $150,510, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- Colorado ranks 7 of 51 states publishing a median for pharmacists, at $156,030 — about 10.73% 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.
- Pharmacists ranks 19 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.
- Colorado's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for pharmacists on its $156,030 median: $111,756 retained after tax becomes $110,232 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $150,510 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in wage data.
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Pay band: Pharmacists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $120,410 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $156,030 |
| Top tenth earn over | $188,430 |
| This salary | $156,030 |
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 | $111,756 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $117,913 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$11,108 |
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 | $147,022 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$15,793 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $156,030 as a midpoint for Colorado, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $120,410 and the ninetieth is $188,430 — 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 $111,756, worked from $156,030. 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 19 of 491.
- Two cautions on $110,232, the adjusted value of that $156,030 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 19 of 491 locally.
- The Colorado median of $156,030 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $120,410 to $188,430. 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 $111,756, on $156,030 for work ranking 19 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 19 of 491 in the state.
- This $110,232 adjusted figure, worked from $156,030, 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 19 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 19 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 $150,510, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $120,410 at the tenth percentile, $188,430 at the ninetieth.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $110,232 of national purchasing power.
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, $111,756 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.
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 $150,510. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($120,410 to $188,430) 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 $110,232 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 $111,756 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.