Pharmacy Aides in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,430
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$6,150
16.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$31,002
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
$37,580
Kept after tax
$31,430
Worth in national money
$31,002
State rank
17
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Colorado pays pharmacy aides around $37,580 at the midpoint, 17 of 48 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 491 occupations Colorado publishes, pharmacy aides lands at 476. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $37,580, tax leaves $31,430, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $31,002 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $41,600, since top earners drag the number up.
- For pharmacy aides the Colorado median is $37,580, ranking 17 of 48 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.
- Within Colorado, this work ranks 476 of 491 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Because Colorado sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for pharmacy aides — median $37,580 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $31,430 retained, $31,002 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $41,600 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Pharmacy Aides
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $34,610 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $37,580 |
| Top tenth earn over | $58,040 |
| This salary | $37,580 |
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 | $31,430 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $32,376 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,315 |
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 | $36,404 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,799 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $37,580 as a midpoint for Colorado, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $34,610 and the ninetieth is $58,040 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Colorado the take-home figure of $31,430, from $37,580, 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 476 of 491 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Colorado, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $31,002, the adjusted value of that $37,580 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 476 of 491 in the state.
- The Colorado median of $37,580 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $34,610 to $58,040. 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 $31,430 from $37,580. 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 476 of 491 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Colorado, so $31,002 — the adjusted value of that $37,580 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 476 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 $41,600, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $34,610 at the bottom tenth to $58,040 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $31,002 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, $31,430 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 48 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $41,600. 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 ($34,610 to $58,040) 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 $31,002 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 $31,430 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.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.