Stationary Engineers and Boiler Operators in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$63,162
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$18,148
22.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$62,301
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
$81,310
Kept after tax
$63,162
Worth in national money
$62,301
State rank
12
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 $81,310, which ranks 12 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 3.42% above the national middle.
- Against other work in Colorado, this sits in the middle: 137 of 491 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $81,310, tax leaves $63,162, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $62,301 in comparable terms. Here the average runs under the middle, at $78,280.
- Colorado ranks 12 of 51 states publishing a median for stationary engineers and boiler operators, at $81,310 — about 3.42% 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.
- Stationary engineers and boiler operators ranks 137 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.
- Because Colorado sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for stationary engineers and boiler operators — median $81,310 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $63,162 retained, $62,301 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $78,280 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
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Pay band: Stationary Engineers and Boiler Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $46,670 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $81,310 |
| Top tenth earn over | $99,550 |
| This salary | $81,310 |
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 | $63,162 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $66,032 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,650 |
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 | $77,231 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,804 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $81,310 as a midpoint for Colorado, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $46,670 and the ninetieth is $99,550 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Colorado the take-home figure of $63,162, from $81,310, 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 137 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 $62,301, the adjusted value of that $81,310 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 137 of 491 in the state.
- The Colorado median of $81,310 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $46,670 to $99,550. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Colorado is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $63,162 from $81,310. 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 137 of 491 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Colorado, so $62,301 — the adjusted value of that $81,310 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 137 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $78,280, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $46,670 at the tenth percentile, $99,550 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 $62,301 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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 $63,162.
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 $78,280. 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 ($46,670 to $99,550) 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 $62,301 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 $63,162 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.