Business Teachers, Postsecondary in Montana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$62,915
after federal, FICA and Montana tax
Tax takes
$18,575
22.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$69,716
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
$81,490
Kept after tax
$62,915
Worth in national money
$69,716
State rank
40
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Montana pays this job a middle wage of $81,490, 40 of 51 states and about 17.75% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Montana this is well-paid work. Of 475 occupations with published figures in the state, this job ranks 89 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Here is where Montana does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $81,490 you keep $62,915, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $69,716 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $109,550, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Montana's $81,490 median for business teachers, postsecondary places it 40 of 51 states, about 17.75% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Ranked against every occupation Montana publishes a median for, business teachers, postsecondary sits 89 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.
- After federal, FICA and Montana income tax, retained pay for business teachers, postsecondary on $81,490 is $62,915. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $69,716 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 $109,550 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Business Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $50,890 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $81,490 |
| Top tenth earn over | $199,660 |
| This salary | $81,490 |
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 | $62,915 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $66,158 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,635 |
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 | $76,880 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,258 |
| 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 $81,490. The published range is $50,890 up to $199,660, 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 $62,915, worked from $81,490. 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 89 of 475.
- Two cautions on $69,716, the adjusted value of that $81,490 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Montana. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 89 of 475 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for business teachers, postsecondary in Montana the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $50,890 to $199,660. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Montana take-home of $62,915, on $81,490 for work ranking 89 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 89 of 475 in the state.
- This $69,716 adjusted figure, worked from $81,490, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 89 of 475 in the state. The occupation ranks 89 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 $109,550, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $50,890 and the top tenth $199,660 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $69,716.
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 $62,915 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 $109,550. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($50,890) and the ninetieth ($199,660) 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 $69,716 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 $62,915 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.