Molding, Coremaking, and Casting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic in Montana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$35,723
after federal, FICA and Montana tax
Tax takes
$7,617
17.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$39,585
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
$43,340
Kept after tax
$35,723
Worth in national money
$39,585
State rank
31
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Montana is 31 of 49 states for this job, with a middle wage of $43,340. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Within Montana this is lower-paid work. Of 475 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 377. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Montana is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $43,340 the take-home is $35,723; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $39,585 would nationally. The average comes to $45,020, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Montana ranks 31 of 49 for molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic at $43,340. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Against every occupation Montana reports, molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic ranks 377 of 475, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Post-tax income for molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic in Montana, on $43,340, is $35,723 — equivalent to $39,585 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $45,020 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Molding, Coremaking, and Casting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $28,850 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $43,340 |
| Top tenth earn over | $63,240 |
| This salary | $43,340 |
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 | $35,723 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $37,004 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,506 |
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 | $41,747 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,821 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $43,340 as a midpoint for Montana, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $28,850 and the ninetieth is $63,240 — 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 $35,723, worked from $43,340. 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 377 of 475.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $39,585 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 377.
- The Montana median of $43,340 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $28,850 to $63,240. 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 $35,723, on $43,340 for work ranking 377 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 377 of 475 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $39,585, worked from $43,340, 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 377 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 $45,020 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?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $28,850, the highest tenth $63,240, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $39,585 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, $35,723 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 49 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 $45,020. 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 ($28,850) and the ninetieth ($63,240) 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 $39,585 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 $35,723 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.