Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders in Montana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$41,927
after federal, FICA and Montana tax
Tax takes
$9,613
18.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$46,459
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
$51,540
Kept after tax
$41,927
Worth in national money
$46,459
State rank
4
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Montana is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $51,540, which ranks 4 of 47 states with published figures. That is about 10.67% above the national middle.
- Against other work in Montana, this sits in the middle: 275 of 475 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Montana is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $51,540 the take-home is $41,927; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $46,459 would nationally. The average comes to $51,870, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Montana ranks 4 of 47 states publishing a median for cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders, at $51,540 — about 10.67% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders ranks 275 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.
- Post-tax income for cutting and slicing machine setters, operators, and tenders in Montana, on $51,540, is $41,927 — equivalent to $46,459 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 $51,870 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,830 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $51,540 |
| Top tenth earn over | $64,200 |
| This salary | $51,540 |
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 | $41,927 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $43,592 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,600 |
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 | $49,467 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,935 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $51,540 as a midpoint for Montana, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $38,830 and the ninetieth is $64,200 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $41,927 take-home in Montana comes from $51,540. 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 275 of 475.
- Two cautions on $46,459, the adjusted value of that $51,540 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 275 of 475 locally.
- The Montana median of $51,540 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $38,830 to $64,200. 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 $41,927, from $51,540, 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 275 of 475 locally, and the state ranks 4 of 47 for it.
- This $46,459 adjusted figure, worked from $51,540, 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 275 of 475 in the state. The occupation ranks 275 of 475 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $38,830 at the tenth percentile, $64,200 at the ninetieth.
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 $46,459 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 $41,927.
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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($38,830 to $64,200) 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 $46,459 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 $41,927 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.