Pharmacy Technicians in Montana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$40,308
after federal, FICA and Montana tax
Tax takes
$9,092
18.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$44,665
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
$49,400
Kept after tax
$40,308
Worth in national money
$44,665
State rank
6
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for pharmacy technicians is strong here. Montana's middle earner gets $49,400, putting the state 6 of 51 — about 7.98% ahead of the national figure.
- Against other work in Montana, this sits in the middle: 292 of 475 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $49,400 you keep $40,308 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $44,665 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $50,230, since top earners drag the number up.
- For pharmacy technicians, Montana sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $49,400, ranking 6 of 51 and running about 7.98% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Pharmacy technicians ranks 292 of 475 occupations in Montana by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Retained pay in Montana is $40,308 after the full tax stack, from $49,400. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $44,665 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $50,230 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Pharmacy Technicians
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,330 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $49,400 |
| Top tenth earn over | $60,780 |
| This salary | $49,400 |
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 | $40,308 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $41,873 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,575 |
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 | $47,452 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,905 |
| 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 pharmacy technicians in Montana earn under $49,400 and half over. The published range runs $38,330 at the tenth percentile to $60,780 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $40,308 take-home in Montana comes from $49,400. 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 292 of 475.
- One number stands for prices across all of Montana, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $44,665, the adjusted value of that $49,400 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 292 of 475 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for pharmacy technicians in Montana, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $38,330 to $60,780; 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 $40,308, from $49,400, 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 292 of 475 locally, and the state ranks 6 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Montana, so $44,665 — the adjusted value of that $49,400 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 292 of 475 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $38,330 at the bottom tenth to $60,780 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $44,665.
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 $40,308 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($38,330 to $60,780) 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 $44,665 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 $40,308 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.