Insurance Sales Agents in Montana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$49,870
after federal, FICA and Montana tax
Tax takes
$12,170
19.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$55,261
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
$62,040
Kept after tax
$49,870
Worth in national money
$55,261
State rank
21
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Montana sits in the middle of the pack for insurance sales agents. The median is $62,040, ranking 21 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 184.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $62,040 you keep $49,870 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $55,261 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $78,070, since top earners drag the number up.
- Montana occupies the middle band for insurance sales agents: a median of $62,040, ranking 21 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, insurance sales agents sits at 184 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.
- Retained pay in Montana is $49,870 after the full tax stack, from $62,040. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $55,261 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $78,070 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Insurance Sales Agents
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $42,260 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $62,040 |
| Top tenth earn over | $120,430 |
| This salary | $62,040 |
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 | $49,870 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $52,029 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,720 |
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 | $59,353 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,080 |
| 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 insurance sales agents in Montana earn under $62,040 and half over. The published range runs $42,260 at the tenth percentile to $120,430 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $49,870 take-home in Montana comes from $62,040. 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 184 of 475.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $55,261 uses one figure for the whole of Montana. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 475 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 184.
- Figures are distribution medians for insurance sales agents in Montana, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $42,260 to $120,430; 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 $49,870, from $62,040, 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 184 of 475 locally, and the state ranks 21 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $55,261, worked from $62,040, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Montana address, on work sitting at 184 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 $78,070 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 $42,260 at the bottom tenth to $120,430 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 $55,261 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 $49,870.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like 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 $78,070. 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 ($42,260) and the ninetieth ($120,430) 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 $55,261 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 $49,870 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.