Clergy in Montana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$47,986
after federal, FICA and Montana tax
Tax takes
$11,564
19.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$53,174
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
$59,550
Kept after tax
$47,986
Worth in national money
$53,174
State rank
29
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Montana is 29 of 50 states for clergy, with a middle wage of $59,550. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Clergy ranks 217 among 475 occupations Montana publishes pay for.
- Montana is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $59,550 the take-home is $47,986; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $53,174 would nationally. The average comes to $63,190, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Montana ranks 29 of 50 for clergy at $59,550. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Position 217 of 475 in Montana places clergy in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Post-tax income for clergy in Montana, on $59,550, is $47,986 — equivalent to $53,174 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 $63,190 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Clergy
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $35,050 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $59,550 |
| Top tenth earn over | $96,460 |
| This salary | $59,550 |
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 | $47,986 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $50,028 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,691 |
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 | $57,008 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,045 |
| 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 $59,550. The published range is $35,050 up to $96,460, 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 $47,986, worked from $59,550. 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 217 of 475.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $53,174 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 217.
- Reported values are medians; for clergy in Montana the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $35,050 to $96,460. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Montana take-home of $47,986, on $59,550 for work ranking 217 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 217 of 475 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $53,174, worked from $59,550, 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 217 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 $63,190 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $35,050 and the top tenth $96,460 — 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 $53,174.
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 $47,986 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 50 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $63,190. 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 ($35,050) and the ninetieth ($96,460) 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 $53,174 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 $47,986 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.