Refuse and Recyclable Material Collectors in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$48,694
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$11,616
19.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$48,030
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
$60,310
Kept after tax
$48,694
Worth in national money
$48,030
State rank
9
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Colorado pays this job a middle wage of $60,310, ranking 9 of 51 states and sitting about 21.37% above the national middle.
- Against other work in Colorado, this sits in the middle: 274 of 491 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $60,310 the take-home is $48,694, which is worth about $48,030 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is lower, $57,860, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- Colorado's median for refuse and recyclable material collectors is $60,310, about 21.37% above the national figure and 9 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Refuse and recyclable material collectors ranks 274 of 491 occupations in Colorado by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Colorado's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for refuse and recyclable material collectors on its $60,310 median: $48,694 retained after tax becomes $48,030 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $57,860 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in wage data.
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Pay band: Refuse and Recyclable Material Collectors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $39,580 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $60,310 |
| Top tenth earn over | $75,330 |
| This salary | $60,310 |
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 | $48,694 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $50,639 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,081 |
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 | $57,889 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,936 |
| 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 refuse and recyclable material collectors in Colorado earn under $60,310 and half over. The published range runs $39,580 at the tenth percentile to $75,330 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Colorado's $48,694, worked from $60,310. 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 274 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $48,030 uses one figure for the whole of Colorado. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 491 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 274.
- Figures are distribution medians for refuse and recyclable material collectors in Colorado, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $39,580 to $75,330; 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.
- The Colorado take-home of $48,694, on $60,310 for work ranking 274 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 274 of 491 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $48,030, worked from $60,310, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Colorado address, on work sitting at 274 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $57,860, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $39,580 at the tenth percentile, $75,330 at the ninetieth.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Colorado run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $48,030 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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, $48,694 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 $57,860. 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 ($39,580 to $75,330) 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 $48,030 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 $48,694 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.