Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks in Montana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$29,664
after federal, FICA and Montana tax
Tax takes
$5,666
16.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$32,871
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
$35,330
Kept after tax
$29,664
Worth in national money
$32,871
State rank
24
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Montana pays hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks around $35,330 at the midpoint, 24 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 475 occupations Montana publishes, hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks lands at 446. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $35,330 you keep $29,664 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $32,871 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $35,400, since top earners drag the number up.
- For hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks the Montana median is $35,330, ranking 24 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Within Montana, this work ranks 446 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.
- Retained pay in Montana is $29,664 after the full tax stack, from $35,330. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $32,871 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $35,400 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $29,470 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $35,330 |
| Top tenth earn over | $43,320 |
| This salary | $35,330 |
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 | $29,664 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $30,568 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,414 |
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 | $34,205 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,711 |
| 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 $35,330. The published range is $29,470 up to $43,320, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $29,664 take-home in Montana comes from $35,330. 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 446 of 475.
- Two cautions on $32,871, the adjusted value of that $35,330 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 446 of 475 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks in Montana the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $29,470 to $43,320. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $29,664, from $35,330, 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 446 of 475 locally, and the state ranks 24 of 51 for it.
- This $32,871 adjusted figure, worked from $35,330, 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 446 of 475 in the state. The occupation ranks 446 of 475 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $29,470 and the top tenth $43,320, so most people doing this work in Montana sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $32,871 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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, $29,664 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($29,470 to $43,320) 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 $32,871 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 $29,664 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.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.