Education Teachers, Postsecondary in Montana

Books, colored pencils and a globe in a bright classroom.

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$55,688

after federal, FICA and Montana tax

Tax takes

$14,632

20.8% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$61,708

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

$70,320

Kept after tax

$55,688

Worth in national money

$61,708

State rank

26

of 49 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • Middling, nationally. Montana pays this job around $70,320 at the midpoint, 26 of 49 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
  • Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 152 among 475 occupations Montana publishes pay for.
  • Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $70,320 you keep $55,688 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $61,708 at national prices. Here the average runs under the middle, at $68,520.
  • For education teachers, postsecondary the Montana median is $70,320, ranking 26 of 49 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
  • Position 152 of 475 in Montana places education teachers, postsecondary in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
  • Retained pay in Montana is $55,688 after the full tax stack, from $70,320. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $61,708 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $68,520 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.

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Pay band: Education Teachers, Postsecondary

The state median for this job

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$33,640
Half earn under$70,320
Top tenth earn over$101,510
This salary$70,320

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
+$2,612take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in Montana$55,688
Take-home in Texas$58,300
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity−$1,713

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$72,686
$72,686in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$66,607
Raise you would need+$2,366
Prices in Texas97 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 education teachers, postsecondary in Montana earn under $70,320 and half over. The published range runs $33,640 at the tenth percentile to $101,510 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
  • In Montana the take-home figure of $55,688, from $70,320, 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 152 of 475 occupations here.
  • Two cautions on $61,708, the adjusted value of that $70,320 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 152 of 475 locally.
  • Figures are distribution medians for education teachers, postsecondary in Montana, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $33,640 to $101,510; 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 $55,688 from $70,320. 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 152 of 475 locally.
  • This $61,708 adjusted figure, worked from $70,320, 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 152 of 475 in the state. The occupation ranks 152 of 475 locally.

Questions people ask

Why is the pay range for this job so wide?

Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $33,640 and the top tenth $101,510 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.

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 $61,708 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, $55,688 remains.

Why is this job missing from some states?

The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 49 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.

What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?

Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($33,640) and the ninetieth ($101,510) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.

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 $61,708 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 $55,688 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.