Natural Sciences Managers in Montana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$87,462
after federal, FICA and Montana tax
Tax takes
$31,968
26.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$96,917
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
$119,430
Kept after tax
$87,462
Worth in national money
$96,917
State rank
39
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Montana is among the lower-paying states for natural sciences managers. The middle earner takes $119,430, ranking 39 of 48 states — about 28.58% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 475 occupations Montana reports, natural sciences managers comes in at 17 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Here is where Montana does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $119,430 you keep $87,462, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $96,917 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $141,130, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Montana ranks 39 of 48 for natural sciences managers, with a median of $119,430 — about 28.58% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Natural sciences managers ranks 17 of 475 occupations by median in Montana, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- After federal, FICA and Montana income tax, retained pay for natural sciences managers on $119,430 is $87,462. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $96,917 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 $141,130 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Natural Sciences Managers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $91,560 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $119,430 |
| Top tenth earn over | $281,640 |
| This salary | $119,430 |
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 | $87,462 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $92,849 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,369 |
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 | $111,773 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,891 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $119,430 as a midpoint for Montana, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $91,560 and the ninetieth is $281,640 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $87,462 take-home in Montana comes from $119,430. 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 17 of 475.
- Two cautions on $96,917, the adjusted value of that $119,430 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 17 of 475 locally.
- The Montana median of $119,430 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $91,560 to $281,640. 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 $87,462, from $119,430, 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 17 of 475 locally, and the state ranks 39 of 48 for it.
- This $96,917 adjusted figure, worked from $119,430, 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 17 of 475 in the state. The occupation ranks 17 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 $141,130, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $91,560 at the bottom tenth to $281,640 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $96,917 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, $87,462 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 48 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 $141,130. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($91,560) and the ninetieth ($281,640) 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 $96,917 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 $87,462 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.