Diagnostic Medical Sonographers in Montana

A stethoscope and folded scrubs in a sunlit clinical workspace.

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$75,538

after federal, FICA and Montana tax

Tax takes

$25,462

25.2% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$83,704

Montana costs less than average

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

$101,000

Kept after tax

$75,538

Worth in national money

$83,704

State rank

16

of 51 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 $101,000, ranking 16 of 51 states and sitting about 4.57% above the national middle.
  • Within Montana this is well-paid work. Of 475 occupations with published figures in the state, this job ranks 40 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
  • Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $101,000 you keep $75,538 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $83,704 at national prices. Here the average runs under the middle, at $99,350.
  • Montana's median for diagnostic medical sonographers is $101,000, about 4.57% above the national figure and 16 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
  • Ranked against every occupation Montana publishes a median for, diagnostic medical sonographers sits 40 of 475 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
  • Retained pay in Montana is $75,538 after the full tax stack, from $101,000. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $83,704 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $99,350 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.

Compare this career across states

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Pay band: Diagnostic Medical Sonographers

The state median for this job

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$80,750
Half earn under$101,000
Top tenth earn over$121,260
This salary$101,000

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

Compare with
+$4,346take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in Montana$75,538
Take-home in Texas$79,884
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity−$1,498

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

Moving to
$0$103,070
$103,070in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$94,823
Raise you would need+$2,070
Prices in Texas97 vs 90

State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.

Sources and assumptions
  • Treat $101,000 as a midpoint for Montana, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $80,750 and the ninetieth is $121,260 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
  • One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Montana's $75,538, worked from $101,000. 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 40 of 475.
  • Two cautions on $83,704, the adjusted value of that $101,000 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 40 of 475 locally.
  • The Montana median of $101,000 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $80,750 to $121,260. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
  • The Montana take-home of $75,538, on $101,000 for work ranking 40 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 40 of 475 in the state.
  • This $83,704 adjusted figure, worked from $101,000, 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 40 of 475 in the state. The occupation ranks 40 of 475 locally.

Questions people ask

How much does pay for this job actually vary?

Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $80,750 at the tenth percentile, $121,260 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 $83,704 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 $75,538.

Can I compare this job across every state?

All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.

What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?

The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($80,750 to $121,260) 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 $83,704 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 $75,538 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.