Career/Technical Education Teachers, Postsecondary in Montana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$46,261
after federal, FICA and Montana tax
Tax takes
$11,009
19.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$51,263
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
$57,270
Kept after tax
$46,261
Worth in national money
$51,263
State rank
45
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Montana. The middle earner gets $57,270. That is 45 of 51 states, and about 10.26% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 475 occupations Montana reports figures for, this is number 248.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $57,270 you keep $46,261 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $51,263 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $60,590, since top earners drag the number up.
- For career/technical education teachers, postsecondary, Montana sits in the lower band at $57,270, ranking 45 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 10.26%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- In Montana's occupational distribution, career/technical education teachers, postsecondary sits at 248 of 475 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Retained pay in Montana is $46,261 after the full tax stack, from $57,270. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $51,263 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $60,590 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Career/Technical Education Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,870 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $57,270 |
| Top tenth earn over | $88,120 |
| This salary | $57,270 |
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 | $46,261 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $48,196 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,665 |
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 | $54,862 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,014 |
| 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 $57,270. The published range is $37,870 up to $88,120, 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 $46,261, worked from $57,270. 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 248 of 475.
- Two cautions on $51,263, the adjusted value of that $57,270 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 248 of 475 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for career/technical education teachers, postsecondary in Montana the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $37,870 to $88,120. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Montana take-home of $46,261, on $57,270 for work ranking 248 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 248 of 475 in the state.
- This $51,263 adjusted figure, worked from $57,270, 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 248 of 475 in the state. The occupation ranks 248 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 $60,590, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $37,870 at the bottom tenth to $88,120 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $51,263 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Montana then takes its own share, leaving $46,261.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
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 $60,590. 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 ($37,870) and the ninetieth ($88,120) 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 $51,263 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 $46,261 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.