Helpers--Carpenters in Montana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$35,217
after federal, FICA and Montana tax
Tax takes
$7,453
17.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$39,024
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
$42,670
Kept after tax
$35,217
Worth in national money
$39,024
State rank
22
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Montana sits in the middle of the pack for helpers--carpenters. The median is $42,670, ranking 22 of 47 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Measured against other jobs in Montana, this one sits low: 380 of 475 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $42,670 you keep $35,217 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $39,024 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $45,240, since top earners drag the number up.
- Montana occupies the middle band for helpers--carpenters: a median of $42,670, ranking 22 of 47. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Helpers--carpenters occupies position 380 of 475 in Montana's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Retained pay in Montana is $35,217 after the full tax stack, from $42,670. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $39,024 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $45,240 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Helpers--Carpenters
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $39,870 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $42,670 |
| Top tenth earn over | $49,920 |
| This salary | $42,670 |
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 | $35,217 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $36,465 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,498 |
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 | $41,116 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,812 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $42,670 as a midpoint for Montana, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $39,870 and the ninetieth is $49,920 — 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 $35,217, worked from $42,670. 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 380 of 475.
- Two cautions on $39,024, the adjusted value of that $42,670 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 380 of 475 locally.
- The Montana median of $42,670 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $39,870 to $49,920. 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 $35,217, on $42,670 for work ranking 380 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 380 of 475 in the state.
- This $39,024 adjusted figure, worked from $42,670, 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 380 of 475 in the state. The occupation ranks 380 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 $45,240, 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 — $39,870 at the tenth percentile, $49,920 at the ninetieth.
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 $39,024 in national terms.
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 $35,217.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 47 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
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 $45,240. 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 ($39,870 to $49,920) 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 $39,024 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 $35,217 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 47 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.