Food Batchmakers in Montana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$32,917
after federal, FICA and Montana tax
Tax takes
$6,713
16.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$36,475
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
$39,630
Kept after tax
$32,917
Worth in national money
$36,475
State rank
28
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Montana is 28 of 50 states for food batchmakers, with a middle wage of $39,630. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Against 475 occupations Montana publishes, food batchmakers lands at 405. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Montana is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $39,630 the take-home is $32,917; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $36,475 would nationally. The average comes to $40,970, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Montana ranks 28 of 50 for food batchmakers at $39,630. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Within Montana, this work ranks 405 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.
- Post-tax income for food batchmakers in Montana, on $39,630, is $32,917 — equivalent to $36,475 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 $40,970 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Food Batchmakers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $29,030 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $39,630 |
| Top tenth earn over | $52,000 |
| This salary | $39,630 |
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 | $32,917 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $34,023 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,464 |
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 | $38,254 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,770 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $39,630 as a midpoint for Montana, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $29,030 and the ninetieth is $52,000 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $32,917 take-home in Montana comes from $39,630. 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 405 of 475.
- Two cautions on $36,475, the adjusted value of that $39,630 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 405 of 475 locally.
- The Montana median of $39,630 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $29,030 to $52,000. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $32,917, from $39,630, 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 405 of 475 locally, and the state ranks 28 of 50 for it.
- This $36,475 adjusted figure, worked from $39,630, 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 405 of 475 in the state. The occupation ranks 405 of 475 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $40,970, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $29,030 at the tenth percentile, $52,000 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 $36,475.
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, $32,917 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 50 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 $40,970. 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 ($29,030 to $52,000) 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 $36,475 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 $32,917 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.