Urban and Regional Planners in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$76,372
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$24,968
24.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$75,331
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
$101,340
Kept after tax
$76,372
Worth in national money
$75,331
State rank
5
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Colorado is one of the better-paying states for urban and regional planners. The middle earner takes $101,340, which ranks 5 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 13.46% above the national middle.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 491 occupations Colorado reports, urban and regional planners comes in at 91 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $101,340 the take-home is $76,372, which is worth about $75,331 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $103,950, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Colorado ranks 5 of 51 states publishing a median for urban and regional planners, at $101,340 — about 13.46% 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.
- Urban and regional planners ranks 91 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.
- Colorado's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for urban and regional planners on its $101,340 median: $76,372 retained after tax becomes $75,331 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $103,950 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Urban and Regional Planners
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $69,670 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $101,340 |
| Top tenth earn over | $140,750 |
| This salary | $101,340 |
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 | $76,372 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $80,123 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$7,121 |
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 | $96,009 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$9,836 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $101,340 as a midpoint for Colorado, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $69,670 and the ninetieth is $140,750 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Colorado's $76,372, worked from $101,340. 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 91 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $75,331 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 91.
- The Colorado median of $101,340 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $69,670 to $140,750. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Colorado take-home of $76,372, on $101,340 for work ranking 91 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 91 of 491 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $75,331, worked from $101,340, 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 91 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $69,670 and the top tenth $140,750, so most people doing this work in Colorado sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $75,331 — 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 $76,372 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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($69,670 to $140,750) 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 $75,331 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 $76,372 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.