Counter and Rental Clerks in Montana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$36,147
after federal, FICA and Montana tax
Tax takes
$7,753
17.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$40,055
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
$43,900
Kept after tax
$36,147
Worth in national money
$40,055
State rank
18
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Montana is 18 of 51 states for counter and rental clerks, with a middle wage of $43,900. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Within Montana this is lower-paid work. Of 475 occupations the state publishes figures for, counter and rental clerks ranks 369. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $43,900 you keep $36,147 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $40,055 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $45,430, since top earners drag the number up.
- Montana ranks 18 of 51 for counter and rental clerks at $43,900. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Against every occupation Montana reports, counter and rental clerks ranks 369 of 475, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Retained pay in Montana is $36,147 after the full tax stack, from $43,900. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $40,055 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $45,430 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Counter and Rental Clerks
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $33,520 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $43,900 |
| Top tenth earn over | $60,310 |
| This salary | $43,900 |
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 | $36,147 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $37,454 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,512 |
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 | $42,274 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,829 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $43,900 as a midpoint for Montana, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $33,520 and the ninetieth is $60,310 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $36,147 take-home in Montana comes from $43,900. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 369 of 475.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $40,055 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 369.
- The Montana median of $43,900 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $33,520 to $60,310. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $36,147, from $43,900, assumes a single Montana filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 369 of 475 locally, and the state ranks 18 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $40,055, worked from $43,900, 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 369 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 $45,430, 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?
The range here is narrow. From $33,520 at the bottom tenth to $60,310 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $40,055.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Montana's own levy, $36,147 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 $45,430. 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 ($33,520 to $60,310) 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 $40,055 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 $36,147 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.