Psychiatric Technicians in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,911
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$8,519
18.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$38,381
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
$47,430
Kept after tax
$38,911
Worth in national money
$38,381
State rank
15
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for psychiatric technicians is strong here. Colorado's middle earner gets $47,430, putting the state 15 of 49 — about 5.1% ahead of the national figure.
- Within Colorado this is lower-paid work. Of 491 occupations the state publishes figures for, psychiatric technicians ranks 386. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $47,430 the take-home is $38,911, which is worth about $38,381 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $48,960, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For psychiatric technicians, Colorado sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $47,430, ranking 15 of 49 and running about 5.1% 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.
- Against every occupation Colorado reports, psychiatric technicians ranks 386 of 491, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Colorado's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for psychiatric technicians on its $47,430 median: $38,911 retained after tax becomes $38,381 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $48,960 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Psychiatric Technicians
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $40,940 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $47,430 |
| Top tenth earn over | $59,810 |
| This salary | $47,430 |
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 | $38,911 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,290 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,080 |
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 | $45,714 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,725 |
| 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 psychiatric technicians in Colorado earn under $47,430 and half over. The published range runs $40,940 at the tenth percentile to $59,810 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Colorado the take-home figure of $38,911, from $47,430, 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 386 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 $38,381, the adjusted value of that $47,430 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 386 of 491 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for psychiatric technicians in Colorado, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $40,940 to $59,810; 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.
- Take-home for Colorado is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $38,911 from $47,430. 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 386 of 491 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Colorado, so $38,381 — the adjusted value of that $47,430 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 386 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 $48,960, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $40,940 and the top tenth $59,810, so most people doing this work in Colorado sit within a fairly tight band.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Colorado costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $38,381 rather than its face figure.
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, $38,911 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 49 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 $48,960. 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 ($40,940 to $59,810) 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 $38,381 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 $38,911 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.