Recreational Therapists in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$53,448
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$13,132
19.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$52,719
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
$66,580
Kept after tax
$53,448
Worth in national money
$52,719
State rank
7
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for recreational therapists is strong here. Colorado's middle earner gets $66,580, putting the state 7 of 48 — about 7.46% ahead of the national figure.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 491 occupations Colorado reports figures for, this is number 212.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $66,580 the take-home is $53,448, which is worth about $52,719 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $67,540, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For recreational therapists, Colorado sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $66,580, ranking 7 of 48 and running about 7.46% 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.
- In Colorado's occupational distribution, recreational therapists sits at 212 of 491 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Colorado's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for recreational therapists on its $66,580 median: $53,448 retained after tax becomes $52,719 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $67,540 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Recreational Therapists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $44,530 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $66,580 |
| Top tenth earn over | $88,120 |
| This salary | $66,580 |
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 | $53,448 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $55,669 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,568 |
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 | $63,806 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,535 |
| 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 $66,580. The published range is $44,530 up to $88,120, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $53,448 take-home in Colorado comes from $66,580. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 212 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Colorado, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $52,719, the adjusted value of that $66,580 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 212 of 491 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for recreational therapists in Colorado the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $44,530 to $88,120. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $53,448, from $66,580, assumes a single Colorado filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 212 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 7 of 48 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Colorado, so $52,719 — the adjusted value of that $66,580 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 212 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $44,530 at the bottom tenth to $88,120 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $52,719 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, $53,448 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 48 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($44,530 to $88,120) 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 $52,719 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 $53,448 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.