Helpers--Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Workers in Montana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$32,765
after federal, FICA and Montana tax
Tax takes
$6,665
16.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$36,308
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
$39,430
Kept after tax
$32,765
Worth in national money
$36,308
State rank
27
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Montana is 27 of 50 states for this job, with a middle wage of $39,430. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Within Montana this is lower-paid work. Of 475 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 406. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Here is where Montana does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $39,430 you keep $32,765, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $36,308 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $40,300, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Montana ranks 27 of 50 for helpers--installation, maintenance, and repair workers at $39,430. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Against every occupation Montana reports, helpers--installation, maintenance, and repair workers ranks 406 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.
- After federal, FICA and Montana income tax, retained pay for helpers--installation, maintenance, and repair workers on $39,430 is $32,765. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $36,308 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 $40,300 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Helpers--Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,300 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $39,430 |
| Top tenth earn over | $51,830 |
| This salary | $39,430 |
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 | $32,765 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $33,862 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,461 |
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 | $38,065 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,767 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of helpers--installation, maintenance, and repair workers in Montana earn under $39,430 and half over. The published range runs $31,300 at the tenth percentile to $51,830 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $32,765 take-home in Montana comes from $39,430. 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 406 of 475.
- Two cautions on $36,308, the adjusted value of that $39,430 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 406 of 475 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for helpers--installation, maintenance, and repair workers in Montana, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $31,300 to $51,830; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Retained pay of $32,765, from $39,430, 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 406 of 475 locally, and the state ranks 27 of 50 for it.
- This $36,308 adjusted figure, worked from $39,430, 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 406 of 475 in the state. The occupation ranks 406 of 475 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $31,300 and the top tenth $51,830, so most people doing this work in Montana sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $36,308.
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 $32,765.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($31,300 to $51,830) 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 $36,308 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 $32,765 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.