Mixing and Blending Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders in Montana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,994
after federal, FICA and Montana tax
Tax takes
$6,416
16.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$35,453
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
$38,410
Kept after tax
$31,994
Worth in national money
$35,453
State rank
48
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Montana. The middle earner gets $38,410. That is 48 of 49 states, and about 21.6% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 475 occupations Montana publishes, this job lands at 415. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $38,410 you keep $31,994 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $35,453 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $43,130, since top earners drag the number up.
- For mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders, Montana sits in the lower band at $38,410, ranking 48 of 49 and trailing the national median by about 21.6%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Montana, this work ranks 415 of 475 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Retained pay in Montana is $31,994 after the full tax stack, from $38,410. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $35,453 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $43,130 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Mixing and Blending Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $34,570 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $38,410 |
| Top tenth earn over | $53,330 |
| This salary | $38,410 |
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 | $31,994 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $33,042 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,450 |
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 | $37,105 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,753 |
| 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 mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders in Montana earn under $38,410 and half over. The published range runs $34,570 at the tenth percentile to $53,330 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $31,994 take-home in Montana comes from $38,410. 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 415 of 475.
- Two cautions on $35,453, the adjusted value of that $38,410 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 415 of 475 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for mixing and blending machine setters, operators, and tenders in Montana, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $34,570 to $53,330; 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.
- Retained pay of $31,994, from $38,410, 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 415 of 475 locally, and the state ranks 48 of 49 for it.
- This $35,453 adjusted figure, worked from $38,410, 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 415 of 475 in the state. The occupation ranks 415 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 $43,130, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $34,570 at the bottom tenth to $53,330 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $35,453 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 $31,994.
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.
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 $43,130. 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 ($34,570 to $53,330) 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 $35,453 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 $31,994 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.