Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers in Montana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$23,728
after federal, FICA and Montana tax
Tax takes
$3,782
13.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$26,293
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
$27,510
Kept after tax
$23,728
Worth in national money
$26,293
State rank
36
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Montana. The middle earner gets $27,510. That is 36 of 51 states, and about 19.04% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 475 occupations Montana publishes, this job lands at 471. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Here is where Montana does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $27,510 you keep $23,728, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $26,293 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $29,340, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers, Montana sits in the lower band at $27,510, ranking 36 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 19.04%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Montana, this work ranks 471 of 475 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- After federal, FICA and Montana income tax, retained pay for dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers on $27,510 is $23,728. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $26,293 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $29,340 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $21,950 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $27,510 |
| Top tenth earn over | $38,350 |
| This salary | $27,510 |
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 | $23,728 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $24,264 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,324 |
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 | $26,859 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,576 |
| 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 dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers in Montana earn under $27,510 and half over. The published range runs $21,950 at the tenth percentile to $38,350 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Montana's $23,728, worked from $27,510. 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 471 of 475.
- Two cautions on $26,293, the adjusted value of that $27,510 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 471 of 475 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers in Montana, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $21,950 to $38,350; 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.
- The Montana take-home of $23,728, on $27,510 for work ranking 471 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 471 of 475 in the state.
- This $26,293 adjusted figure, worked from $27,510, 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 471 of 475 in the state. The occupation ranks 471 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 $29,340, 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?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $21,950 and the top tenth $38,350, so most people doing this work in Montana sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $26,293 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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, $23,728 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 $29,340. 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 ($21,950 to $38,350) 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 $26,293 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 $23,728 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.