Amusement and Recreation Attendants in Montana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$25,412
after federal, FICA and Montana tax
Tax takes
$4,298
14.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$28,160
Montana costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Montana — 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
$29,710
Kept after tax
$25,412
Worth in national money
$28,160
State rank
29
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Montana sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $29,710, ranking 29 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Measured against other jobs in Montana, this one sits low: 466 of 475 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $29,710 you keep $25,412 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $28,160 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $31,570, since top earners drag the number up.
- Montana occupies the middle band for amusement and recreation attendants: a median of $29,710, ranking 29 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Amusement and recreation attendants occupies position 466 of 475 in Montana's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Retained pay in Montana is $25,412 after the full tax stack, from $29,710. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $28,160 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $31,570 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Amusement and Recreation Attendants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $23,300 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $29,710 |
| Top tenth earn over | $39,340 |
| This salary | $29,710 |
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 Montana | $25,412 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $26,052 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,350 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
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 | $28,914 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,633 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $29,710 as a midpoint for Montana, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $23,300 and the ninetieth is $39,340 — 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 Montana's $25,412, worked from $29,710. 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 466 of 475.
- One number stands for prices across all of Montana, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $28,160, the adjusted value of that $29,710 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 466 of 475 in the state.
- The Montana median of $29,710 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $23,300 to $39,340. 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 Montana take-home of $25,412, on $29,710 for work ranking 466 of 475 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 466 of 475 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Montana, so $28,160 — the adjusted value of that $29,710 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 466 of 475 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $31,570 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $23,300 and the top tenth $39,340, so most people doing this work in Montana sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Montana sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $28,160 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 Montana adds its own income tax on top — which is why $25,412 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.
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 Montana is $31,570. 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 ($23,300 to $39,340) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Montana rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Montana's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $28,160 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $25,412 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Montana 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.