Biological Technicians in Montana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$40,701
after federal, FICA and Montana tax
Tax takes
$9,219
18.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$45,101
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
$49,920
Kept after tax
$40,701
Worth in national money
$45,101
State rank
36
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for biological technicians is on the low side in Montana. The middle earner gets $49,920. That is 36 of 51 states, and about 13.2% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against other work in Montana, this sits in the middle: 286 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 $49,920 the take-home is $40,701; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $45,101 would nationally. The average comes to $52,370, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For biological technicians, Montana sits in the lower band at $49,920, ranking 36 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 13.2%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Biological technicians ranks 286 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 biological technicians in Montana, on $49,920, is $40,701 — equivalent to $45,101 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 $52,370 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Biological Technicians
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $40,330 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $49,920 |
| Top tenth earn over | $64,980 |
| This salary | $49,920 |
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 | $40,701 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $42,291 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,581 |
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 | $47,942 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,912 |
| 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 biological technicians in Montana earn under $49,920 and half over. The published range runs $40,330 at the tenth percentile to $64,980 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 $40,701, worked from $49,920. 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 286 of 475.
- One number stands for prices across all of Montana, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $45,101, the adjusted value of that $49,920 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 286 of 475 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for biological technicians in Montana, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $40,330 to $64,980; 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 $40,701, on $49,920 for work ranking 286 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 286 of 475 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Montana, so $45,101 — the adjusted value of that $49,920 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 286 of 475 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $52,370, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $40,330 and the top tenth $64,980, so most people doing this work in Montana sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $45,101.
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 $40,701 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 $52,370. 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 ($40,330 to $64,980) 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 $45,101 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 $40,701 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.