Massage Therapists in Montana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$43,440
after federal, FICA and Montana tax
Tax takes
$10,100
18.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$48,136
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
$53,540
Kept after tax
$43,440
Worth in national money
$48,136
State rank
35
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for massage therapists is on the low side in Montana. The middle earner gets $53,540. That is 35 of 50 states, and about 8.4% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Massage therapists ranks 265 among 475 occupations Montana publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $53,540 you keep $43,440 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $48,136 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $59,660, since top earners drag the number up.
- For massage therapists, Montana sits in the lower band at $53,540, ranking 35 of 50 and trailing the national median by about 8.4%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Position 265 of 475 in Montana places massage therapists 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 $43,440 after the full tax stack, from $53,540. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $48,136 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $59,660 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Massage Therapists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $25,020 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $53,540 |
| Top tenth earn over | $96,740 |
| This salary | $53,540 |
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 | $43,440 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $45,199 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,622 |
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 | $51,350 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,962 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $53,540 as a midpoint for Montana, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $25,020 and the ninetieth is $96,740 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Montana's $43,440, worked from $53,540. 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 265 of 475.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $48,136 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 265.
- The Montana median of $53,540 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $25,020 to $96,740. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Montana take-home of $43,440, on $53,540 for work ranking 265 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 265 of 475 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $48,136, worked from $53,540, 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 265 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 $59,660 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $25,020 and the top tenth $96,740 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Montana is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $48,136 in national terms.
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 $43,440 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release 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 $59,660. 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 ($25,020) and the ninetieth ($96,740) 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 $48,136 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 $43,440 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.