Special Education Teachers, Kindergarten and Elementary School in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$58,533
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$15,757
21.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$57,735
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
$74,290
Kept after tax
$58,533
Worth in national money
$57,735
State rank
15
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Colorado is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $74,290, which ranks 15 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 14.08% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 181 among 491 occupations Colorado publishes pay for.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $74,290, tax leaves $58,533, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $57,735 in comparable terms. Here the average runs under the middle, at $73,510.
- Colorado ranks 15 of 51 states publishing a median for special education teachers, kindergarten and elementary school, at $74,290 — about 14.08% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Position 181 of 491 in Colorado places special education teachers, kindergarten and elementary school 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 special education teachers, kindergarten and elementary school — median $74,290 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $58,533 retained, $57,735 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $73,510 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Special Education Teachers, Kindergarten and Elementary School
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $50,700 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $74,290 |
| Top tenth earn over | $98,480 |
| This salary | $74,290 |
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 | $58,533 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $61,093 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,134 |
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 | $70,651 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,092 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $74,290 as a midpoint for Colorado, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $50,700 and the ninetieth is $98,480 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $58,533 take-home in Colorado comes from $74,290. 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 181 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Colorado, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $57,735, the adjusted value of that $74,290 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 181 of 491 in the state.
- The Colorado median of $74,290 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $50,700 to $98,480. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $58,533, from $74,290, 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 181 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 15 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Colorado, so $57,735 — the adjusted value of that $74,290 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 181 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $50,700 at the tenth percentile, $98,480 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 $57,735 — 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, $58,533 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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($50,700 to $98,480) 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 $57,735 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 $58,533 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.