School Principal salary in Colorado

Official occupation: 11-9032 Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary · Reference period May 2025 · Data updated · Confidence 95/100

In Colorado, the median school principal earns $110,530 a year, 4% above the United States median of $105,870.

It ranks 20th of 51 states with a published figure.

Pay is relatively compressed, with the 10th percentile at $81,340 and the 90th at $160,940 (a ratio of 2.0).

About 5,760 people work in this occupation here, roughly in line with its national share (location quotient 0.95).

For context, the median across all occupations in Colorado is $59,800, so this role pays 1.8 times the local typical wage.

Published figures

Published and derived pay figures
MeasureColoradoNational
Median annual pay Observed$110,530United States: $105,870
Mean annual pay Observed$117,650United States: $116,100
10th percentile Observed$81,340United States: $76,280
25th percentile Observed$101,100United States: $86,040
75th percentile Observed$134,770United States: $134,630
90th percentile Observed$160,940United States: $167,770
Employment (jobs) Observed5,760
Jobs per 1,000 employees Observed2.003
Location quotient Observed0.95
Difference from United States median ($105,870) Derived+4%
Rank among 51 states Derived20
Ratio to Colorado all-occupation median ($59,800) Derived1.85×
90th / 10th percentile ratio Derived1.98

Nearby in the ranking

  1. 18. Illinois$113,360
  2. 19. Nebraska$110,580
  3. 20. Colorado$110,530
  4. 21. Nevada$109,420
  5. 22. North Dakota$107,940

Largest cities in Colorado: Denver, Colorado Springs, Aurora, Fort Collins, Lakewood (GeoNames). Figures are for the whole state, not individual cities.

More pay data

Source, method and data quality

  • Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 (Public domain (U.S. Government work)). Reference period: May 2025. Updates: Yearly (spring release).
  • Observed figures are copied from the published table without adjustment. Derived figures (rankings, ratios and differences) are calculated by us from those observed figures. No figure on this page is modeled or estimated.
  • Relative standard error (PRSE) published per estimate.
  • Confidence score: 95/100. Based on the published sampling error and job count. We only publish region pages scoring 60 or more that have at least 6 observed figures.
  • Place hierarchy from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Data last updated: .
  • Full method: methodology.