Postal Service Clerks in Montana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$47,169
after federal, FICA and Montana tax
Tax takes
$11,301
19.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$52,269
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
$58,470
Kept after tax
$47,169
Worth in national money
$52,269
State rank
48
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Montana pays postal service clerks a middle wage of $58,470, 48 of 51 states and about 5.89% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 475 occupations Montana reports figures for, this is number 233.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $58,470 you keep $47,169 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $52,269 at national prices. Here the average runs under the middle, at $56,110.
- Montana's $58,470 median for postal service clerks places it 48 of 51 states, about 5.89% 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.
- In Montana's occupational distribution, postal service clerks sits at 233 of 475 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Retained pay in Montana is $47,169 after the full tax stack, from $58,470. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $52,269 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $56,110 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Postal Service Clerks
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,360 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $58,470 |
| Top tenth earn over | $72,950 |
| This salary | $58,470 |
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 | $47,169 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $49,161 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,679 |
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 | $55,992 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,030 |
| 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 postal service clerks in Montana earn under $58,470 and half over. The published range runs $36,360 at the tenth percentile to $72,950 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Montana the take-home figure of $47,169, from $58,470, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 233 of 475 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $52,269, the adjusted value of that $58,470 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 233 of 475 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for postal service clerks in Montana, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $36,360 to $72,950; 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.
- Take-home for Montana is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $47,169 from $58,470. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 233 of 475 locally.
- This $52,269 adjusted figure, worked from $58,470, 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 233 of 475 in the state. The occupation ranks 233 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 $56,110, 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 $36,360 and the top tenth $72,950, 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 $52,269.
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, $47,169 remains.
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 $56,110. 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 ($36,360 to $72,950) 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 $52,269 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 $47,169 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.