Conservation Scientists in Montana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$58,017
after federal, FICA and Montana tax
Tax takes
$15,903
21.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$64,289
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
$73,920
Kept after tax
$58,017
Worth in national money
$64,289
State rank
24
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Montana pays conservation scientists around $73,920 at the midpoint, 24 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Conservation scientists ranks 141 among 475 occupations Montana publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $73,920 you keep $58,017 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $64,289 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $76,360, since top earners drag the number up.
- For conservation scientists the Montana median is $73,920, ranking 24 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Position 141 of 475 in Montana places conservation scientists 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.
- Retained pay in Montana is $58,017 after the full tax stack, from $73,920. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $64,289 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $76,360 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Conservation Scientists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $48,660 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $73,920 |
| Top tenth earn over | $106,330 |
| This salary | $73,920 |
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 | $58,017 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $60,833 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,688 |
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 | $69,918 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,332 |
| 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 $73,920. The published range is $48,660 up to $106,330, 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 $58,017, worked from $73,920. 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 141 of 475.
- One number stands for prices across all of Montana, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $64,289, the adjusted value of that $73,920 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 141 of 475 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for conservation scientists in Montana the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $48,660 to $106,330. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Montana take-home of $58,017, on $73,920 for work ranking 141 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 141 of 475 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Montana, so $64,289 — the adjusted value of that $73,920 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 141 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 $76,360 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 $48,660 and the top tenth $106,330 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Montana is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $64,289 in national terms.
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 $58,017 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 $76,360. 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 ($48,660) and the ninetieth ($106,330) 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 $64,289 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 $58,017 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.