Materials Engineers in Montana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$59,382
after federal, FICA and Montana tax
Tax takes
$16,648
21.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$65,802
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
$76,030
Kept after tax
$59,382
Worth in national money
$65,802
State rank
44
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for materials engineers is on the low side in Montana. The middle earner gets $76,030. That is 44 of 45 states, and about 32.63% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against other work in Montana, this sits in the middle: 125 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 $76,030 you keep $59,382, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $65,802 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $79,600, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For materials engineers, Montana sits in the lower band at $76,030, ranking 44 of 45 and trailing the national median by about 32.63%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Materials engineers ranks 125 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 materials engineers on $76,030 is $59,382. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $65,802 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 $79,600 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Materials Engineers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $59,860 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $76,030 |
| Top tenth earn over | $104,480 |
| This salary | $76,030 |
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 | $59,382 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $62,317 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,673 |
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 | $71,858 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,311 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $76,030 as a midpoint for Montana, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $59,860 and the ninetieth is $104,480 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Montana the take-home figure of $59,382, from $76,030, 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 125 of 475 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $65,802, the adjusted value of that $76,030 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 125 of 475 locally.
- The Montana median of $76,030 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $59,860 to $104,480. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Montana is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $59,382 from $76,030. 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 125 of 475 locally.
- This $65,802 adjusted figure, worked from $76,030, 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 125 of 475 in the state. The occupation ranks 125 of 475 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $79,600, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $59,860 at the tenth percentile, $104,480 at the ninetieth.
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 $65,802 in national terms.
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, $59,382 remains.
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 45 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 $79,600. 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 ($59,860 to $104,480) 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 $65,802 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 $59,382 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.