Sociology Teachers, Postsecondary in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$61,395
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$17,235
21.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$60,558
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
$78,630
Kept after tax
$61,395
Worth in national money
$60,558
State rank
26
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Colorado sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $78,630, ranking 26 of 46 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 150 among 491 occupations Colorado publishes pay for.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $78,630, tax leaves $61,395, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $60,558 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $86,390, since top earners drag the number up.
- Colorado occupies the middle band for sociology teachers, postsecondary: a median of $78,630, ranking 26 of 46. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Position 150 of 491 in Colorado places sociology teachers, postsecondary 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.
- Because Colorado sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for sociology teachers, postsecondary — median $78,630 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $61,395 retained, $60,558 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $86,390 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Sociology Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $41,400 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $78,630 |
| Top tenth earn over | $139,920 |
| This salary | $78,630 |
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 | $61,395 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $64,146 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,453 |
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 | $74,719 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,532 |
| 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 $78,630. The published range is $41,400 up to $139,920, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Colorado the take-home figure of $61,395, from $78,630, 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 150 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 $60,558, the adjusted value of that $78,630 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 150 of 491 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for sociology teachers, postsecondary in Colorado the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $41,400 to $139,920. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Colorado is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $61,395 from $78,630. 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 150 of 491 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Colorado, so $60,558 — the adjusted value of that $78,630 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 150 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 $86,390, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $41,400 and the top tenth $139,920 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $60,558 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 $61,395.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 46 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release 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 $86,390. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($41,400) and the ninetieth ($139,920) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
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 $60,558 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 $61,395 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 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.