Special Education Teachers, Middle School in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$53,114
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$13,016
19.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$52,390
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
$66,130
Kept after tax
$53,114
Worth in national money
$52,390
State rank
22
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Colorado pays this job around $66,130 at the midpoint, 22 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 491 occupations Colorado reports figures for, this is number 214.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $66,130, tax leaves $53,114, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $52,390 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $71,610, since top earners drag the number up.
- For special education teachers, middle school the Colorado median is $66,130, ranking 22 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- In Colorado's occupational distribution, special education teachers, middle school sits at 214 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.
- Because Colorado sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for special education teachers, middle school — median $66,130 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $53,114 retained, $52,390 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $71,610 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Special Education Teachers, Middle School
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $50,750 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $66,130 |
| Top tenth earn over | $98,620 |
| This salary | $66,130 |
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 | $53,114 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $55,315 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,533 |
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 | $63,390 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,483 |
| 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 special education teachers, middle school in Colorado earn under $66,130 and half over. The published range runs $50,750 at the tenth percentile to $98,620 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 $53,114, worked from $66,130. 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 214 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $52,390 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 214.
- Figures are distribution medians for special education teachers, middle school in Colorado, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $50,750 to $98,620; 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 $53,114, on $66,130 for work ranking 214 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 214 of 491 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $52,390, worked from $66,130, 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 214 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 $71,610, 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?
The label is broader than the work. From $50,750 at the bottom tenth to $98,620 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $52,390 rather than its face figure.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Colorado adds its own income tax on top — which is why $53,114 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 $71,610. 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 ($50,750) and the ninetieth ($98,620) 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 $52,390 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 $53,114 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.