Foreign Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary in Montana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$61,931
after federal, FICA and Montana tax
Tax takes
$18,039
22.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$68,627
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
$79,970
Kept after tax
$61,931
Worth in national money
$68,627
State rank
15
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Montana's middle earner gets $79,970, putting the state 15 of 45 — about 0.78% ahead of the national figure.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 475 occupations Montana reports, this job comes in at 102 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Here is where Montana does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $79,970 you keep $61,931, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $68,627 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $89,410, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary, Montana sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $79,970, ranking 15 of 45 and running about 0.78% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary ranks 102 of 475 occupations by median in Montana, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- After federal, FICA and Montana income tax, retained pay for foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary on $79,970 is $61,931. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $68,627 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $89,410 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Foreign Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $49,280 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $79,970 |
| Top tenth earn over | $131,660 |
| This salary | $79,970 |
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 | $61,931 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $65,089 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,646 |
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 | $75,482 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,273 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $79,970 as a midpoint for Montana, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $49,280 and the ninetieth is $131,660 — 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 $61,931, worked from $79,970. 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 102 of 475.
- Two cautions on $68,627, the adjusted value of that $79,970 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 102 of 475 locally.
- The Montana median of $79,970 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $49,280 to $131,660. 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 $61,931, on $79,970 for work ranking 102 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 102 of 475 in the state.
- This $68,627 adjusted figure, worked from $79,970, 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 102 of 475 in the state. The occupation ranks 102 of 475 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $89,410 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $49,280 at the bottom tenth to $131,660 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $68,627 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 $61,931.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 45 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $89,410. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($49,280) and the ninetieth ($131,660) 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 $68,627 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 $61,931 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.