Art Directors in Montana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$57,972
after federal, FICA and Montana tax
Tax takes
$15,878
21.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$64,239
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
$73,850
Kept after tax
$57,972
Worth in national money
$64,239
State rank
38
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for art directors is on the low side in Montana. The middle earner gets $73,850. That is 38 of 46 states, and about 35.7% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against other work in Montana, this sits in the middle: 142 of 475 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Montana is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $73,850 the take-home is $57,972; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $64,239 would nationally. The average lands at $70,850, below the middle of the range.
- For art directors, Montana sits in the lower band at $73,850, ranking 38 of 46 and trailing the national median by about 35.7%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Art directors ranks 142 of 475 occupations in Montana by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Post-tax income for art directors in Montana, on $73,850, is $57,972 — equivalent to $64,239 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $70,850 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
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Pay band: Art Directors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $45,700 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $73,850 |
| Top tenth earn over | $96,030 |
| This salary | $73,850 |
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 | $57,972 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $60,783 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,688 |
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 | $69,853 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,332 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of art directors in Montana earn under $73,850 and half over. The published range runs $45,700 at the tenth percentile to $96,030 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Montana's $57,972, worked from $73,850. 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 142 of 475.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $64,239 uses one figure for the whole of Montana. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 475 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 142.
- Figures are distribution medians for art directors in Montana, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $45,700 to $96,030; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- The Montana take-home of $57,972, on $73,850 for work ranking 142 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 142 of 475 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $64,239, worked from $73,850, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Montana address, on work sitting at 142 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 $70,850 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $45,700 at the bottom tenth to $96,030 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $64,239 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, $57,972 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 46 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $70,850. 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 ($45,700 to $96,030) 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 $64,239 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 $57,972 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.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.