Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining in Montana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$52,731
after federal, FICA and Montana tax
Tax takes
$13,119
19.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$58,431
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
$65,850
Kept after tax
$52,731
Worth in national money
$58,431
State rank
9
of 49 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 $65,850, ranking 9 of 49 states and sitting about 14.66% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 162 among 475 occupations Montana publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $65,850 you keep $52,731 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $58,431 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $66,850, since top earners drag the number up.
- Montana's median for excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface mining is $65,850, about 14.66% above the national figure and 9 of 49 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Position 162 of 475 in Montana places excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface mining 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 $52,731 after the full tax stack, from $65,850. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $58,431 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $66,850 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $40,990 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $65,850 |
| Top tenth earn over | $92,910 |
| This salary | $65,850 |
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 | $52,731 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $55,090 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,739 |
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 | $62,913 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,310 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 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 $65,850. The published range is $40,990 up to $92,910, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $52,731 take-home in Montana comes from $65,850. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 162 of 475.
- One number stands for prices across all of Montana, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $58,431, the adjusted value of that $65,850 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 162 of 475 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface mining in Montana the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $40,990 to $92,910. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $52,731, from $65,850, assumes a single Montana filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 162 of 475 locally, and the state ranks 9 of 49 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Montana, so $58,431 — the adjusted value of that $65,850 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 162 of 475 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $40,990 at the bottom tenth to $92,910 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $58,431.
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 $52,731.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 49 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($40,990) and the ninetieth ($92,910) 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 $58,431 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 $52,731 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.