Zoologists and Wildlife Biologists in Colorado
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$64,475
after federal, FICA and Colorado tax
Tax takes
$18,825
22.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$63,596
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
$83,300
Kept after tax
$64,475
Worth in national money
$63,596
State rank
11
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for zoologists and wildlife biologists is strong here. Colorado's middle earner gets $83,300, putting the state 11 of 47 — about 8.49% ahead of the national figure.
- Against other work in Colorado, this sits in the middle: 126 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 $83,300, tax leaves $64,475, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $63,596 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $86,710, since top earners drag the number up.
- For zoologists and wildlife biologists, Colorado sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $83,300, ranking 11 of 47 and running about 8.49% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Zoologists and wildlife biologists ranks 126 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 zoologists and wildlife biologists — median $83,300 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $64,475 retained, $63,596 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $86,710 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Zoologists and Wildlife Biologists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $60,590 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $83,300 |
| Top tenth earn over | $116,390 |
| This salary | $83,300 |
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 | $64,475 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $67,432 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,796 |
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 | $79,097 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$8,006 |
| 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 zoologists and wildlife biologists in Colorado earn under $83,300 and half over. The published range runs $60,590 at the tenth percentile to $116,390 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 $64,475, worked from $83,300. 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 126 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Colorado, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $63,596, the adjusted value of that $83,300 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 126 of 491 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for zoologists and wildlife biologists in Colorado, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $60,590 to $116,390; 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 $64,475, on $83,300 for work ranking 126 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 126 of 491 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Colorado, so $63,596 — the adjusted value of that $83,300 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 126 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 $86,710, 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 — $60,590 at the tenth percentile, $116,390 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 $63,596 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Colorado's own levy, $64,475 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 47 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $86,710. 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 ($60,590 to $116,390) 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 $63,596 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 $64,475 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 47 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.