Industrial Truck and Tractor Operators in Montana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$39,294
after federal, FICA and Montana tax
Tax takes
$8,766
18.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$43,542
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
$48,060
Kept after tax
$39,294
Worth in national money
$43,542
State rank
18
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Montana sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $48,060, ranking 18 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 475 occupations Montana reports figures for, this is number 307.
- Here is where Montana does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $48,060 you keep $39,294, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $43,542 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $50,140, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Montana occupies the middle band for industrial truck and tractor operators: a median of $48,060, ranking 18 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- In Montana's occupational distribution, industrial truck and tractor operators sits at 307 of 475 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- After federal, FICA and Montana income tax, retained pay for industrial truck and tractor operators on $48,060 is $39,294. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $43,542 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 $50,140 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Industrial Truck and Tractor Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,450 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $48,060 |
| Top tenth earn over | $64,970 |
| This salary | $48,060 |
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 | $39,294 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,796 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,560 |
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 | $46,191 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,886 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $48,060 as a midpoint for Montana, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $36,450 and the ninetieth is $64,970 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $39,294 take-home in Montana comes from $48,060. 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 307 of 475.
- One number stands for prices across all of Montana, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $43,542, the adjusted value of that $48,060 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 307 of 475 in the state.
- The Montana median of $48,060 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $36,450 to $64,970. 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 $39,294, from $48,060, 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 307 of 475 locally, and the state ranks 18 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Montana, so $43,542 — the adjusted value of that $48,060 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 307 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 $50,140, 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?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $36,450 and the top tenth $64,970, 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 $43,542.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Montana adds its own income tax on top — which is why $39,294 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 $50,140. 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 ($36,450 to $64,970) 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 $43,542 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 $39,294 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.