Southwest Colorado nonmetropolitan area Salaries
BLS nonmetropolitan reporting area wages for Southwest Colorado nonmetropolitan area (May 2025)
Waiters and Waitresses shows the widest metro-area vs national median gap in Southwest Colorado nonmetropolitan area
Waiters and Waitresses publishes $45,730 here versus $35,230 nationally (+29.8%; 2,340metro-area jobs). Next is Cashiers at $35,810 locally versus $32,880 nationally (+8.9%).
- Waiters and Waitresses$45,730 in Southwest Colorado nonmetropolitan area sits 29.8% above the national Waiters and Waitresses median of $35,230 (2,340 published local jobs).
- Cashiers$35,810 in Southwest Colorado nonmetropolitan area sits 8.9% above the national Cashiers median of $32,880 (3,340 published local jobs).
- Fast Food and Counter Workers$33,850 in Southwest Colorado nonmetropolitan area sits 8.5% above the national Fast Food and Counter Workers median of $31,200 (3,490 published local jobs).
- Correctional Officers and Jailers$63,280 in Southwest Colorado nonmetropolitan area sits 7.4% above the national Correctional Officers and Jailers median of $58,940 (2,270 published local jobs).
Waiters and Waitresses and the other occupations above are descriptive OEWS endpoints for Southwest Colorado nonmetropolitan area; they are not findings about taxes, employers, or worker experience.
BLS OEWS metro wage desk
MSA 0800002 · Southwest Colorado nonmetropolitan area $62K mean
MEAN-MID · RPP-UNK · OCC-MID · TOP-LEAD · EMP-MIX · TREND-UNK · PHOTO-FINISH · BOOK-FULL
- MEAN-MID #159/528
- RPP-UNK RPP n/a
- OCC-MID 347 occs
- TOP-LEAD Nurse Anesthet… · $269K
- EMP-MIX Lawyers
- TREND-UNK Pay chg n/a
- PHOTO-FINISH Topeka, KS
- BOOK-FULL 334 rows · May 2025
Read with Topeka, KS ($35 on published-row mean) · Understanding BLS wage data
Instrument codes from this MSA’s OEWS published-row mean, BEA RPP, occupation book, employment lead, All Occupations pay change, and nearest peer, not a moving recommendation.
Published-row mean neighbourhood around Southwest Colorado nonmetro…
Largest published OEWS rows in this nonmetropolitan area
Lawyers and Managers, All Other lead published employment inside Southwest Colorado nonmetropolitan area's top-pay sample, order follows OEWS job counts, not median wage.
- 1. Lawyers 460 jobs · $135,220
- 2. Managers, All Other 330 jobs · $136,890
- 3. Medical and Health Services Managers 330 jobs · $126,370
- 4. Software Developers 280 jobs · $126,310
- 5. Nurse Practitioners 190 jobs · $133,500
- 6. Financial Managers 170 jobs · $156,420
- 7. Family Medicine Physicians 160 jobs · $253,770
- 8. Computer and Information Systems Managers 160 jobs · $148,920
- 9. Pharmacists 140 jobs · $152,990
- 10. Dentists, General 110 jobs · $158,190
- 11. Physician Assistants 110 jobs · $130,670
- 12. Physicians, All Other 100 jobs · $260,400
- 13. Sales Managers 100 jobs · $146,950
- 14. Veterinarians 100 jobs · $121,670
- 15. Marketing Managers 70 jobs · $173,920
- 16. Architectural and Engineering Managers 60 jobs · $160,600
- 17. Chief Executives 60 jobs · $155,910
- 18. Human Resources Managers 60 jobs · $134,350
Occupations Tracked
347
with wage data
Published-Row Mean
$61,609
employment-weighted, 334 complete rows
Top Salary
$269,130
Nurse Anesthetists
Top-pay occupations in Southwest Colorado nonmetropolitan area, by employment
Same top-pay sample as the salary ranking, sorted by published local jobs so the title sequence follows the OEWS mix.
| # | Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lawyers | $135,220 |
| 2 | Managers, All Other | $136,890 |
| 3 | Medical and Health Services Managers | $126,370 |
| 4 | Software Developers | $126,310 |
| 5 | Nurse Practitioners | $133,500 |
| 6 | Financial Managers | $156,420 |
| 7 | Family Medicine Physicians | $253,770 |
| 8 | Computer and Information Systems Managers | $148,920 |
| 9 | Pharmacists | $152,990 |
| 10 | Dentists, General | $158,190 |
| 11 | Physician Assistants | $130,670 |
| 12 | Physicians, All Other | $260,400 |
| 13 | Sales Managers | $146,950 |
| 14 | Veterinarians | $121,670 |
| 15 | Marketing Managers | $173,920 |
| 16 | Architectural and Engineering Managers | $160,600 |
| 17 | Chief Executives | $155,910 |
| 18 | Human Resources Managers | $134,350 |
| 19 | Optometrists | $129,620 |
| 20 | Nurse Anesthetists | $269,130 |
| 21 | Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrates | $190,230 |
| 22 | Public Relations Managers | $136,640 |
| 23 | Natural Sciences Managers | $119,430 |
| 24 | Computer Network Architects | $126,990 |
| 25 | Mechanical Engineers | $123,490 |
Lowest Paying Jobs in Southwest Colorado nonmetropolitan area
| Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|
| Ushers, Lobby Attendants, and Ticket Takers | $31,010 |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | $33,850 |
| Food Preparation and Serving Related Workers, All Other | $34,280 |
| Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary | $34,530 |
| Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing | $34,650 |
| Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks | $35,130 |
| Amusement and Recreation Attendants | $35,150 |
| Animal Caretakers | $35,360 |
| Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers | $35,360 |
| Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners | $35,790 |
Other BLS Wage Areas in CO
Other metropolitan or nonmetropolitan OEWS areas assigned to the same state. Cross-state pay and employment peers live in Nationwide similar metros below.
Nationwide metros with similar published-row mean pay or employment scale
Two OEWS peer sets outside CO. Same-state wage areas above stay geographic; these neighborhoods are cross-state nearest neighbors on employment-weighted published-row mean wage ($61,609 here) and summed published employment.
Similar mean wage
Nearest other metros by employment-weighted published-row annual mean wage.
Similar employment scale
Nearest headcount peers (floor 100,000 summed published jobs), distinct from the mean-wage column.
Peers are nearest-neighbor matches on BLS OEWS employment-weighted published-row mean wage and summed occupation employment. Employment peers exclude metros already listed in the mean-wage column so the two link sets stay distinct. Mean wage here is not a worker-level median.
Frequently Asked Questions
What average wage does BLS publish for this nonmetropolitan area? ▼
What is the highest paying job in Southwest Colorado nonmetropolitan area? ▼
What jobs pay the least in Southwest Colorado nonmetropolitan area? ▼
Where do these nonmetropolitan wage rows come from? ▼
Related federal data
What to do with this data
How to use Southwest Colorado nonmetropolitan area wage figures in a real decision
- Nurse Anesthetists leads published medians in Southwest Colorado nonmetropolitan area at $269,130/year; open the occupation for percentile bands and state rows. Nurse Anesthetists
- Southwest Colorado nonmetropolitan area's employment-weighted published-row mean is $61,609 across 334 occupation rows with employment estimates. Understanding BLS data
- Compare this nonmetropolitan area against the statewide occupation table for CO before treating one geography as the other. State wage page
BLS OEWS estimates reflect the May 2025 reference period; small occupation-area cells can be suppressed, and figures are not employer offers.
Source data and WageDex calculations are identified in context on this page. Occupation rows use BLS OEWS May 2025. The local-area benchmark is WageDex's employment-weighted mean of published occupation means; where BEA RPP is available, the price-level figure divides that benchmark by the published area parity. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.