Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$73,741
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$23,609
24.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$72,736
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
$97,350
Kept after tax
$73,741
Worth in national money
$72,736
State rank
5
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Colorado's middle earner gets $97,350, putting the state 5 of 51 — about 27.74% ahead of the national figure.
- Within Colorado this is well-paid work. Of 491 occupations with published figures in the state, this job ranks 101 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- No great distortion either way. Colorado costs about what the country costs, so from $97,350, take-home of $73,741 is worth roughly $72,736 in national money. The average lands at $90,550, below the middle of the range.
- For police and sheriff's patrol officers, Colorado sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $97,350, ranking 5 of 51 and running about 27.74% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Ranked against every occupation Colorado publishes a median for, police and sheriff's patrol officers sits 101 of 491 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Price parity in Colorado is near the national base, so for police and sheriff's patrol officers, whose median is $97,350, the adjusted figure of $72,736 differs little from $73,741 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $90,550 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $65,340 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $97,350 |
| Top tenth earn over | $109,300 |
| This salary | $97,350 |
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 | $73,741 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $77,316 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,828 |
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 | $92,268 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$9,431 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Colorado earn less than $97,350. The published range is $65,340 up to $109,300, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Colorado's $73,741, worked from $97,350. 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 101 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Colorado, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $72,736, the adjusted value of that $97,350 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 101 of 491 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for police and sheriff's patrol officers in Colorado the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $65,340 to $109,300. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Colorado take-home of $73,741, on $97,350 for work ranking 101 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 101 of 491 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Colorado, so $72,736 — the adjusted value of that $97,350 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 101 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 $90,550 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $65,340 at the tenth percentile, $109,300 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 $72,736 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, $73,741 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 $90,550. 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 ($65,340 to $109,300) 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 $72,736 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 $73,741 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.