Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$39,868
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$8,822
18.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$39,325
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
$48,690
Kept after tax
$39,868
Worth in national money
$39,325
State rank
14
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Colorado's middle earner gets $48,690, putting the state 14 of 51 — about 2.42% ahead of the national figure.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 366 among 491 occupations Colorado publishes pay for.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $48,690 the take-home is $39,868, which is worth about $39,325 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $50,700, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive, Colorado sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $48,690, ranking 14 of 51 and running about 2.42% 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.
- Position 366 of 491 in Colorado places secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Colorado's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive on its $48,690 median: $39,868 retained after tax becomes $39,325 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $50,700 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,300 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $48,690 |
| Top tenth earn over | $64,960 |
| This salary | $48,690 |
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 | $39,868 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $41,302 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,178 |
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 | $46,905 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,844 |
| 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 secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive in Colorado earn under $48,690 and half over. The published range runs $37,300 at the tenth percentile to $64,960 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $39,868 take-home in Colorado comes from $48,690. 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 366 of 491.
- Two cautions on $39,325, the adjusted value of that $48,690 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Colorado. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 366 of 491 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive in Colorado, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $37,300 to $64,960; 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.
- Retained pay of $39,868, from $48,690, 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 366 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 14 of 51 for it.
- This $39,325 adjusted figure, worked from $48,690, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 366 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 366 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 $50,700, 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?
The range here is narrow. From $37,300 at the bottom tenth to $64,960 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 $39,325 rather than its face figure.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Colorado then takes its own share, leaving $39,868.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
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 $50,700. 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 ($37,300 to $64,960) 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 $39,325 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 $39,868 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.