Pest Control Workers in Montana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$34,505
after federal, FICA and Montana tax
Tax takes
$7,225
17.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$38,236
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
$41,730
Kept after tax
$34,505
Worth in national money
$38,236
State rank
35
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Montana pays pest control workers a middle wage of $41,730, 35 of 50 states and about 7.78% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Montana this is lower-paid work. Of 475 occupations the state publishes figures for, pest control workers ranks 389. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $41,730 you keep $34,505 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $38,236 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $44,930, since top earners drag the number up.
- Montana's $41,730 median for pest control workers places it 35 of 50 states, about 7.78% 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.
- Against every occupation Montana reports, pest control workers ranks 389 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.
- Retained pay in Montana is $34,505 after the full tax stack, from $41,730. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $38,236 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $44,930 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Pest Control Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,360 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $41,730 |
| Top tenth earn over | $60,350 |
| This salary | $41,730 |
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 | $34,505 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $35,710 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,488 |
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 | $40,231 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,799 |
| 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 pest control workers in Montana earn under $41,730 and half over. The published range runs $38,360 at the tenth percentile to $60,350 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $34,505 take-home in Montana comes from $41,730. 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 389 of 475.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $38,236 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 389.
- Figures are distribution medians for pest control workers in Montana, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $38,360 to $60,350; 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 $34,505, from $41,730, 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 389 of 475 locally, and the state ranks 35 of 50 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $38,236, worked from $41,730, 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 389 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 $44,930, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $38,360 and the top tenth $60,350, so most people doing this work in Montana sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $38,236.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Montana adds its own income tax on top — which is why $34,505 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 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 $44,930. 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 ($38,360 to $60,350) 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 $38,236 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 $34,505 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.