What Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors earn in Denver County, CO
The median pay for Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors in Denver County, CO is $62,810 per year, which works out to $30.20 per hour. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics wage survey for the Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO metropolitan area, the labor market that Denver County, CO belongs to. Half of the workers in this occupation earn more than the median and half earn less, which makes it a sturdier yardstick than an average that a few very high earners can pull upward.
The mean wage is $71,840, which is 14.4% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 8,480 people working in this occupation across the Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Denver County, CO has roughly 718,877 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors in the Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $47,110 a year ($22.65 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $100,320 or more ($48.23 an hour). That is a gap of $53,210 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $52,500 at the 25th percentile and $82,340 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 2.1 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Employers quote this occupation by the hour or by the year, so here are both: $30.20 an hour or $62,810 a year at the median for Denver County, CO. Before any deductions, that is $5,234 a month, $2,416 every two weeks and $1,208 each week. After taxes the same job pays $24.28 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors
Job outlook for Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 533,400 jobs in 2025 to 631,400 in 2035, a change of +18.4%, faster than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 50,500 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 9.5% of current employment each year. About 5.4% of the people in this occupation are self-employed, and wage figures cover wage and salary workers only.
Typical entry-level education: master's degree. Typical on-the-job training to reach competency: internship/residency. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $59,350 for this occupation; the Denver County, CO median of $62,810 is 5.8% above it.
How pay in Denver County, CO compares
Compared with the Colorado average
Pay for Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors in Denver County, CO is in line with the statewide figure: $62,810 locally against an employment-weighted Colorado average of $63,281, a difference of only $471 (0.7%). Within Colorado, Denver County, CO already has the highest median we track for this job.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors is $59,109 across the contiguous United States. At $62,810, Denver County, CO pays $3,701 more, which is 6.3% above that benchmark. Keep in mind that a higher salary only helps if living costs do not rise faster, which is why the cost sections below matter as much as the headline number.
Where this job ranks in Denver County, CO
Among the 554 occupations with published wages in Denver County, CO, Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors ranks number 302 by median pay, ahead of about 46% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Lawyers at $177,380 a year, which is $114,570 more than the median for Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors.
From gross pay to take-home pay
Three separate tax bills sit between the gross salary and the bank account: federal income tax, FICA, and state income tax. For Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors earning the Denver County, CO median of $62,810, they add up to $12,317. The result is $50,493 of take-home pay a year ($4,208 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $20 goes to taxes and $80 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 19.6%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $47,060. Federal brackets are marginal, so only the slice of income above each threshold is taxed at the higher rate; the last dollars of this salary fall in the 12% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $5,409, an effective 8.6% of gross pay, well below the 12% marginal rate because the lower brackets are cheaper.
Social Security and Medicare (FICA)
Payroll taxes are a flat percentage of wages. Social Security takes 6.2% up to a wage base of $176,100, which costs $3,894 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $911. FICA totals $4,805, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in Colorado
Colorado income tax on this salary is $2,104 a year, or 3.3% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 39% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $175 a month. Local taxes such as county or city income taxes are not included, so a few jurisdictions may withhold slightly more.
A cross-check with IRS data for Denver County, CO
IRS Statistics of Income data for Denver County, CO show an average adjusted gross income of $114,627 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 17.4% across all filers. Filers in the $50,000 to under $75,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 8.6%, compared with the 8.6% estimated here for a single filer taking the standard deduction. Gaps between the two reflect filing status, dependents, credits and other income, none of which a single-person wage estimate includes.
Cost of living in Denver County, CO
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Denver County, CO: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $50,493 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Denver County, CO, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $1,831 a month ($21,972 a year), and at $2,169 for two bedrooms. For Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors, a one-bedroom absorbs 43.5% of take-home pay and 35.0% of gross pay.
Food
The USDA Thrifty Food Plan (August 2026) puts the cost of a nutritious home-cooked diet for an adult at about $3,436 a year, which is $286 a month or $66.07 a week. That equals 5.5% of gross pay for Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors in Denver County, CO. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Colorado residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,576 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $411, for $1,987 in total. Gasoline in Colorado averages $3.14 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,451.
What is left over
Rent, food, energy and gasoline cost $28,846 a year in Denver County, CO. Subtract that from $50,493 of take-home pay and $21,647 remains, which is $1,804 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 34.5% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Denver County, CO
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Denver County, CO: property taxes, housing prices and the daily commute. The figures below are exact U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates for Denver County, CO, set beside the Colorado and national medians.
Property taxes in Denver County, CO
Homeowners in Denver County, CO pay a median of $2,751 a year in real estate taxes, 6% above the Colorado median of $2,602 and 12% below the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $616,000, the median tax bill is 0.45% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors median of $62,810, a tax bill of that size would equal 4.4% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Denver County, CO
Renters in Denver County, CO pay a median gross rent of $1,831 a month in the Census survey, 4% above the Colorado median of $1,761. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,831 a month; the two measures differ because the Census figure covers units of every size that renters already occupy, while the HUD figure is a one-bedroom benchmark. The median value of an owner-occupied home is $616,000, 14% above the Colorado median of $539,400. Median household income is $94,718, in line with the Colorado median of $95,470, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 23.2% of that income.
Commuting in Denver County, CO
Workers in Denver County, CO who travel to a workplace spend an average of 24.9 minutes each way, 1% below the Colorado average of 25.2. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 4.2 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 27.3% of workers in Denver County, CO work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors afford to live in Denver County, CO?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $62,810 that ceiling is $1,570 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,831 is $261 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $35.21 an hour; the median for Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors is $30.20, which is 14% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $24.28 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 17.4 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $2,169 a month means $1,085 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $8,958 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $30,605.
How fast you can save
At $1,804 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 6 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 12 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors pay in Denver County, CO
How much do Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors make per hour in Denver County, CO?
The median is $30.20 per hour, based on $62,810 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $22.65 at the 10th percentile to $48.23 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors take home after taxes in Denver County, CO?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $62,810 becomes $50,493 a year. That is $4,208 a month, $1,942 every two weeks or $971 a week.
How much tax do Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors pay in Denver County, CO?
Total taxes are $12,317 a year, an effective rate of 19.6%: $5,409 federal income tax, $4,805 FICA and $2,104 Colorado income tax.
Do Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors earn more in Denver County, CO than elsewhere in Colorado?
It is about the same. The local median of $62,810 is within 0.7% of the Colorado average of $63,281.
Can Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors afford a one-bedroom apartment in Denver County, CO?
A one-bedroom costs $1,831 a month against take-home pay of $4,208, which is 43.5% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $1,570 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors in Denver County, CO?
About $1,804 a month ($21,647 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $28,846 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Denver County, CO at the 30% guideline?
$35.21 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $21,972 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors is $30.20.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO metropolitan area; hourly-only values are annualized at 2,080 hours. Rents are HUD Fair Market Rents, food costs come from the USDA Thrifty Food Plan, and energy prices come from the Energy Information Administration. County-level tax statistics come from the IRS Statistics of Income.
Taxes use tax-year 2025 federal brackets, FICA rates and the Colorado rules for a single filer with wage income only. Figures are estimates for planning and comparison, not tax or financial advice, and they exclude local income taxes, benefits, retirement contributions and individual circumstances.