Crushing, Grinding, and Polishing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders in Montana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$48,410
after federal, FICA and Montana tax
Tax takes
$11,700
19.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$53,643
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
$60,110
Kept after tax
$48,410
Worth in national money
$53,643
State rank
5
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Montana pays this job a middle wage of $60,110, ranking 5 of 47 states and sitting about 23.84% above the national middle.
- Against other work in Montana, this sits in the middle: 210 of 475 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $60,110 you keep $48,410 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $53,643 at national prices. Here the average runs under the middle, at $55,610.
- Montana's median for crushing, grinding, and polishing machine setters, operators, and tenders is $60,110, about 23.84% above the national figure and 5 of 47 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Crushing, grinding, and polishing machine setters, operators, and tenders ranks 210 of 475 occupations in Montana by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Retained pay in Montana is $48,410 after the full tax stack, from $60,110. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $53,643 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $55,610 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
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Pay band: Crushing, Grinding, and Polishing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $34,630 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $60,110 |
| Top tenth earn over | $66,250 |
| This salary | $60,110 |
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 | $48,410 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $50,478 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,698 |
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 | $57,536 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,053 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of crushing, grinding, and polishing machine setters, operators, and tenders in Montana earn under $60,110 and half over. The published range runs $34,630 at the tenth percentile to $66,250 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Montana the take-home figure of $48,410, from $60,110, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 210 of 475 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $53,643 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 210.
- Figures are distribution medians for crushing, grinding, and polishing machine setters, operators, and tenders in Montana, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $34,630 to $66,250; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Take-home for Montana is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $48,410 from $60,110. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 210 of 475 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $53,643, worked from $60,110, 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 210 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 $55,610, 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 $34,630 at the bottom tenth to $66,250 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $53,643 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 $48,410 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 47 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 $55,610. 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 ($34,630 to $66,250) 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 $53,643 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 $48,410 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 47 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.