Animal Caretakers in Montana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$28,817
after federal, FICA and Montana tax
Tax takes
$5,393
15.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$31,932
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
$34,210
Kept after tax
$28,817
Worth in national money
$31,932
State rank
22
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Montana pays animal caretakers around $34,210 at the midpoint, 22 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 475 occupations Montana publishes, animal caretakers lands at 454. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Here is where Montana does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $34,210 you keep $28,817, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $31,932 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $36,170, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For animal caretakers the Montana median is $34,210, ranking 22 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Within Montana, this work ranks 454 of 475 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- After federal, FICA and Montana income tax, retained pay for animal caretakers on $34,210 is $28,817. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $31,932 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $36,170 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Animal Caretakers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $26,170 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $34,210 |
| Top tenth earn over | $49,080 |
| This salary | $34,210 |
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 | $28,817 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $29,668 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,402 |
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 | $33,151 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,695 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $34,210 as a midpoint for Montana, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $26,170 and the ninetieth is $49,080 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $28,817 take-home in Montana comes from $34,210. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 454 of 475.
- One number stands for prices across all of Montana, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $31,932, the adjusted value of that $34,210 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 454 of 475 in the state.
- The Montana median of $34,210 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $26,170 to $49,080. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $28,817, from $34,210, assumes a single Montana filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 454 of 475 locally, and the state ranks 22 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Montana, so $31,932 — the adjusted value of that $34,210 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 454 of 475 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $36,170, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $26,170 and the top tenth $49,080, 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 $31,932 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 Montana's own levy, $28,817 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 $36,170. 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 ($26,170 to $49,080) 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 $31,932 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 $28,817 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.