Interpreters and Translators in Montana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$39,135
after federal, FICA and Montana tax
Tax takes
$8,715
18.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$43,366
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
$47,850
Kept after tax
$39,135
Worth in national money
$43,366
State rank
43
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Montana pays interpreters and translators a middle wage of $47,850, 43 of 47 states and about 20.48% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Interpreters and translators ranks 313 among 475 occupations Montana publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $47,850 you keep $39,135 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $43,366 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $49,580, since top earners drag the number up.
- Montana's $47,850 median for interpreters and translators places it 43 of 47 states, about 20.48% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Position 313 of 475 in Montana places interpreters and translators in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Retained pay in Montana is $39,135 after the full tax stack, from $47,850. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $43,366 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $49,580 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: Interpreters and Translators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,520 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $47,850 |
| Top tenth earn over | $60,940 |
| This salary | $47,850 |
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 | $39,135 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,627 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,557 |
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 | $45,993 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,884 |
| 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 $47,850. The published range is $38,520 up to $60,940, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Montana's $39,135, worked from $47,850. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 313 of 475.
- One number stands for prices across all of Montana, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $43,366, the adjusted value of that $47,850 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 313 of 475 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for interpreters and translators in Montana the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $38,520 to $60,940. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Montana take-home of $39,135, on $47,850 for work ranking 313 of 475 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 313 of 475 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Montana, so $43,366 — the adjusted value of that $47,850 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 313 of 475 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $49,580, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $38,520 at the tenth percentile, $60,940 at the ninetieth.
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 $43,366.
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 $39,135.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 47 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $49,580. 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 ($38,520 to $60,940) 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 $43,366 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 $39,135 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 47 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.