Political Science Teachers, Postsecondary in Montana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$80,746
after federal, FICA and Montana tax
Tax takes
$28,304
26.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$89,475
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
$109,050
Kept after tax
$80,746
Worth in national money
$89,475
State rank
4
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Montana's middle earner gets $109,050, putting the state 4 of 45 — about 11.2% ahead of the national figure.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Montana. It ranks 23 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 $109,050 you keep $80,746 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $89,475 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $121,230, since top earners drag the number up.
- For political science teachers, postsecondary, Montana sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $109,050, ranking 4 of 45 and running about 11.2% 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.
- Within Montana, political science teachers, postsecondary ranks 23 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 $80,746 after the full tax stack, from $109,050. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $89,475 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $121,230 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Political Science Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $58,930 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $109,050 |
| Top tenth earn over | $189,060 |
| This salary | $109,050 |
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 | $80,746 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $85,547 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,442 |
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 | $102,226 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,992 |
| 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 political science teachers, postsecondary in Montana earn under $109,050 and half over. The published range runs $58,930 at the tenth percentile to $189,060 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Montana's $80,746, worked from $109,050. 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 23 of 475.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $89,475 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 23.
- Figures are distribution medians for political science teachers, postsecondary in Montana, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $58,930 to $189,060; 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.
- The Montana take-home of $80,746, on $109,050 for work ranking 23 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 23 of 475 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $89,475, worked from $109,050, 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 23 of 475 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $121,230, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $58,930, the highest tenth $189,060, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $89,475.
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, $80,746 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 45 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 $121,230. 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 ($58,930) and the ninetieth ($189,060) 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 $89,475 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 $80,746 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.