Occupational Therapists in Montana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$67,767
after federal, FICA and Montana tax
Tax takes
$21,223
23.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$75,094
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
$88,990
Kept after tax
$67,767
Worth in national money
$75,094
State rank
46
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Montana pays occupational therapists a middle wage of $88,990, 46 of 51 states and about 11.3% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Montana. It ranks 70 out of 475 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $88,990 you keep $67,767 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $75,094 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $92,310, since top earners drag the number up.
- Montana's $88,990 median for occupational therapists places it 46 of 51 states, about 11.3% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Within Montana, occupational therapists ranks 70 of 475 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Retained pay in Montana is $67,767 after the full tax stack, from $88,990. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $75,094 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $92,310 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Occupational Therapists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $76,110 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $88,990 |
| Top tenth earn over | $110,910 |
| This salary | $88,990 |
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 | $67,767 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $71,434 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,582 |
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 | $83,777 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,186 |
| 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 occupational therapists in Montana earn under $88,990 and half over. The published range runs $76,110 at the tenth percentile to $110,910 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $67,767 take-home in Montana comes from $88,990. 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 70 of 475.
- Two cautions on $75,094, the adjusted value of that $88,990 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 70 of 475 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for occupational therapists in Montana, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $76,110 to $110,910; 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 $67,767, from $88,990, 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 70 of 475 locally, and the state ranks 46 of 51 for it.
- This $75,094 adjusted figure, worked from $88,990, 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 70 of 475 in the state. The occupation ranks 70 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 $92,310 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $76,110 at the bottom tenth to $110,910 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 $75,094 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 $67,767.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 $92,310. 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 ($76,110 to $110,910) 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 $75,094 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 $67,767 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.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.