Interior Designers in Montana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$49,666
after federal, FICA and Montana tax
Tax takes
$12,104
19.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$55,035
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
$61,770
Kept after tax
$49,666
Worth in national money
$55,035
State rank
31
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Montana pays interior designers around $61,770 at the midpoint, 31 of 49 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against other work in Montana, this sits in the middle: 186 of 475 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where Montana does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $61,770 you keep $49,666, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $55,035 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $63,500, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For interior designers the Montana median is $61,770, ranking 31 of 49 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.
- Interior designers ranks 186 of 475 occupations in Montana by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- After federal, FICA and Montana income tax, retained pay for interior designers on $61,770 is $49,666. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $55,035 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 $63,500 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Interior Designers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,540 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $61,770 |
| Top tenth earn over | $86,070 |
| This salary | $61,770 |
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 | $49,666 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $51,812 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,716 |
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 | $59,099 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,076 |
| 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 interior designers in Montana earn under $61,770 and half over. The published range runs $31,540 at the tenth percentile to $86,070 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Montana the take-home figure of $49,666, from $61,770, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 186 of 475 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $55,035, the adjusted value of that $61,770 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 186 of 475 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for interior designers in Montana, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $31,540 to $86,070; 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.
- Take-home for Montana is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $49,666 from $61,770. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 186 of 475 locally.
- This $55,035 adjusted figure, worked from $61,770, 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 186 of 475 in the state. The occupation ranks 186 of 475 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $31,540, the highest tenth $86,070, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $55,035.
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 $49,666 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 49 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($31,540) and the ninetieth ($86,070) 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 $55,035 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 $49,666 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.