Biological Science Teachers, Postsecondary in Montana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$75,201
after federal, FICA and Montana tax
Tax takes
$25,279
25.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$83,331
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
$100,480
Kept after tax
$75,201
Worth in national money
$83,331
State rank
8
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Montana's middle earner gets $100,480, putting the state 8 of 49 — about 18.74% ahead of the national figure.
- Within Montana this is well-paid work. Of 475 occupations with published figures in the state, this job ranks 44 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Montana is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $100,480 the take-home is $75,201; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $83,331 would nationally. The average comes to $102,630, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For biological science teachers, postsecondary, Montana sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $100,480, ranking 8 of 49 and running about 18.74% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Ranked against every occupation Montana publishes a median for, biological science teachers, postsecondary sits 44 of 475 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Post-tax income for biological science teachers, postsecondary in Montana, on $100,480, is $75,201 — equivalent to $83,331 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 $102,630 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Biological Science Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $64,120 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $100,480 |
| Top tenth earn over | $158,670 |
| This salary | $100,480 |
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 | $75,201 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $79,518 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,502 |
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 | $94,345 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,075 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Montana earn less than $100,480. The published range is $64,120 up to $158,670, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Montana's $75,201, worked from $100,480. 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 44 of 475.
- One number stands for prices across all of Montana, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $83,331, the adjusted value of that $100,480 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 44 of 475 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for biological science teachers, postsecondary in Montana the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $64,120 to $158,670. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Montana take-home of $75,201, on $100,480 for work ranking 44 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 44 of 475 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Montana, so $83,331 — the adjusted value of that $100,480 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 44 of 475 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $64,120 and the top tenth $158,670 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $83,331 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 $75,201 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 49 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($64,120) and the ninetieth ($158,670) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
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 $83,331 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 $75,201 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.