Technical Writers in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$75,891
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$24,719
24.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$74,856
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
$100,610
Kept after tax
$75,891
Worth in national money
$74,856
State rank
9
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Colorado pays technical writers a middle wage of $100,610, ranking 9 of 45 states and sitting about 11.31% above the national middle.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 491 occupations Colorado reports, technical writers comes in at 93 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $100,610, tax leaves $75,891, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $74,856 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $107,560, since top earners drag the number up.
- Colorado's median for technical writers is $100,610, about 11.31% above the national figure and 9 of 45 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Technical writers ranks 93 of 491 occupations by median in Colorado, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Because Colorado sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for technical writers — median $100,610 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $75,891 retained, $74,856 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $107,560 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Technical Writers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $69,730 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $100,610 |
| Top tenth earn over | $160,950 |
| This salary | $100,610 |
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 | $75,891 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $79,609 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$7,067 |
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 | $95,324 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$9,762 |
| 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 $100,610. The published range is $69,730 up to $160,950, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Colorado the take-home figure of $75,891, from $100,610, 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 93 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 $74,856, the adjusted value of that $100,610 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 93 of 491 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for technical writers in Colorado the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $69,730 to $160,950. 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 $75,891 from $100,610. 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 93 of 491 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Colorado, so $74,856 — the adjusted value of that $100,610 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 93 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 $107,560, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $69,730 at the bottom tenth to $160,950 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 $74,856 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 $75,891 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 45 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $107,560. 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 ($69,730) and the ninetieth ($160,950) 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 $74,856 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 $75,891 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.