Emergency Medical Technicians in Montana

A stethoscope and folded scrubs in a sunlit clinical workspace.

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$30,277

after federal, FICA and Montana tax

Tax takes

$5,863

16.2% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$33,550

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

$36,140

Kept after tax

$30,277

Worth in national money

$33,550

State rank

47

of 51 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • The nominal figure here is modest. Montana pays this job a middle wage of $36,140, 47 of 51 states and about 18.73% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
  • Within Montana this is lower-paid work. Of 475 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 444. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
  • Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $36,140 you keep $30,277 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $33,550 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $36,820, since top earners drag the number up.
  • Montana's $36,140 median for emergency medical technicians places it 47 of 51 states, about 18.73% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
  • Against every occupation Montana reports, emergency medical technicians ranks 444 of 475, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
  • Retained pay in Montana is $30,277 after the full tax stack, from $36,140. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $33,550 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $36,820 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.

Compare this career across states

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Pay band: Emergency Medical Technicians

The state median for this job

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$27,280
Half earn under$36,140
Top tenth earn over$46,310
This salary$36,140

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
+$942take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in Montana$30,277
Take-home in Texas$31,218
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity−$1,424

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$37,862
$37,862in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$34,968
Raise you would need+$1,722
Prices in Texas97 vs 90

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

Sources and assumptions
  • Half the people doing this work in Montana earn less than $36,140. The published range is $27,280 up to $46,310, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
  • In Montana the take-home figure of $30,277, from $36,140, 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 444 of 475 occupations here.
  • The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $33,550 uses one figure for the whole of Montana. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 475 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 444.
  • Reported values are medians; for emergency medical technicians in Montana the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $27,280 to $46,310. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
  • Take-home for Montana is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $30,277 from $36,140. 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 444 of 475 locally.
  • Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $33,550, worked from $36,140, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Montana address, on work sitting at 444 of 475 locally.

Questions people ask

How much does pay for this job actually vary?

Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $27,280 and the top tenth $46,310, so most people doing this work in Montana sit within a fairly tight band.

What does this pay actually buy where I live?

Further than the number implies. Montana is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $33,550 in national terms.

Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?

Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Montana adds its own income tax on top — which is why $30,277 of this wage survives to your account.

Can I compare this job across every state?

This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.

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

The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($27,280 to $46,310) 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 $33,550 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 $30,277 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.