Electrical Engineers in Montana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$66,713
after federal, FICA and Montana tax
Tax takes
$20,647
23.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$73,925
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
$87,360
Kept after tax
$66,713
Worth in national money
$73,925
State rank
49
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for electrical engineers is on the low side in Montana. The middle earner gets $87,360. That is 49 of 49 states, and about 27.58% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Montana. It ranks 73 out of 475 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Montana is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $87,360 the take-home is $66,713; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $73,925 would nationally. The average comes to $98,930, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For electrical engineers, Montana sits in the lower band at $87,360, ranking 49 of 49 and trailing the national median by about 27.58%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Montana, electrical engineers ranks 73 of 475 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Post-tax income for electrical engineers in Montana, on $87,360, is $66,713 — equivalent to $73,925 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 $98,930 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Electrical Engineers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $72,910 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $87,360 |
| Top tenth earn over | $133,180 |
| This salary | $87,360 |
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 | $66,713 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $70,288 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,594 |
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 | $82,278 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,202 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $87,360 as a midpoint for Montana, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $72,910 and the ninetieth is $133,180 — 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 $66,713, worked from $87,360. 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 73 of 475.
- Two cautions on $73,925, the adjusted value of that $87,360 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 73 of 475 locally.
- The Montana median of $87,360 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $72,910 to $133,180. 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 $66,713, on $87,360 for work ranking 73 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 73 of 475 in the state.
- This $73,925 adjusted figure, worked from $87,360, 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 73 of 475 in the state. The occupation ranks 73 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 $98,930, 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?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $72,910 at the tenth percentile, $133,180 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $73,925.
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 $66,713.
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.
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 $98,930. 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 ($72,910 to $133,180) 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 $73,925 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 $66,713 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.