Postal Service Mail Carriers in Montana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$47,578
after federal, FICA and Montana tax
Tax takes
$11,432
19.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$52,721
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
$59,010
Kept after tax
$47,578
Worth in national money
$52,721
State rank
39
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Montana pays postal service mail carriers a middle wage of $59,010, 39 of 51 states and about 2.54% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Against other work in Montana, this sits in the middle: 223 of 475 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where Montana does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $59,010 you keep $47,578, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $52,721 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $61,070, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Montana's $59,010 median for postal service mail carriers places it 39 of 51 states, about 2.54% 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.
- Postal service mail carriers ranks 223 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.
- After federal, FICA and Montana income tax, retained pay for postal service mail carriers on $59,010 is $47,578. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $52,721 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $61,070 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Postal Service Mail Carriers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $42,390 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $59,010 |
| Top tenth earn over | $81,040 |
| This salary | $59,010 |
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 | $47,578 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $49,595 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,685 |
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 | $56,500 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,038 |
| 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 mail carriers in Montana earn under $59,010 and half over. The published range runs $42,390 at the tenth percentile to $81,040 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 $47,578, worked from $59,010. 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 223 of 475.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $52,721 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 223.
- Figures are distribution medians for postal service mail carriers in Montana, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $42,390 to $81,040; 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 $47,578, on $59,010 for work ranking 223 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 223 of 475 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $52,721, worked from $59,010, 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 223 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 $61,070 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $42,390 and the top tenth $81,040, so most people doing this work in Montana sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $52,721 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 $47,578.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like 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 $61,070. 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 ($42,390 to $81,040) 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 $52,721 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 $47,578 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.