Machinists in Montana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$49,023
after federal, FICA and Montana tax
Tax takes
$11,897
19.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$54,322
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
$60,920
Kept after tax
$49,023
Worth in national money
$54,322
State rank
19
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Montana pays machinists around $60,920 at the midpoint, 19 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against other work in Montana, this sits in the middle: 202 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 $60,920 you keep $49,023, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $54,322 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $61,530, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For machinists the Montana median is $60,920, ranking 19 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.
- Machinists ranks 202 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 machinists on $60,920 is $49,023. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $54,322 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 $61,530 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Machinists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,940 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $60,920 |
| Top tenth earn over | $81,810 |
| This salary | $60,920 |
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 | $49,023 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $51,129 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,707 |
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 | $58,298 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,064 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $60,920 as a midpoint for Montana, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $37,940 and the ninetieth is $81,810 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $49,023 take-home in Montana comes from $60,920. 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 202 of 475.
- One number stands for prices across all of Montana, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $54,322, the adjusted value of that $60,920 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 202 of 475 in the state.
- The Montana median of $60,920 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $37,940 to $81,810. 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 $49,023, from $60,920, 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 202 of 475 locally, and the state ranks 19 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Montana, so $54,322 — the adjusted value of that $60,920 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 202 of 475 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $37,940, the highest tenth $81,810, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $54,322 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, $49,023 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($37,940) and the ninetieth ($81,810) 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 $54,322 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 $49,023 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.