Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,048
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$5,712
16.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$29,639
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
$35,760
Kept after tax
$30,048
Worth in national money
$29,639
State rank
28
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Colorado pays this job around $35,760 at the midpoint, 28 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 491 occupations Colorado publishes, this job lands at 489. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- No great distortion either way. Colorado costs about what the country costs, so from $35,760, take-home of $30,048 is worth roughly $29,639 in national money. The average comes to $38,100, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For teaching assistants, except postsecondary the Colorado median is $35,760, ranking 28 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.
- Within Colorado, this work ranks 489 of 491 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Price parity in Colorado is near the national base, so for teaching assistants, except postsecondary, whose median is $35,760, the adjusted figure of $29,639 differs little from $30,048 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $38,100 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $30,800 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $35,760 |
| Top tenth earn over | $48,470 |
| This salary | $35,760 |
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 | $30,048 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $30,913 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,173 |
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 | $34,683 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,628 |
| 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 teaching assistants, except postsecondary in Colorado earn under $35,760 and half over. The published range runs $30,800 at the tenth percentile to $48,470 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 $30,048, worked from $35,760. 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 489 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Colorado, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $29,639, the adjusted value of that $35,760 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 489 of 491 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for teaching assistants, except postsecondary in Colorado, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $30,800 to $48,470; 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 $30,048, on $35,760 for work ranking 489 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 489 of 491 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Colorado, so $29,639 — the adjusted value of that $35,760 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 489 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 $38,100, 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 $30,800 at the bottom tenth to $48,470 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $29,639 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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 $30,048 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 $38,100. 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 ($30,800 to $48,470) 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 $29,639 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 $30,048 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.