Postal Service Mail Sorters, Processors, and Processing Machine Operators in Montana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$46,382
after federal, FICA and Montana tax
Tax takes
$11,048
19.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$51,397
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
$57,430
Kept after tax
$46,382
Worth in national money
$51,397
State rank
41
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Montana is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $57,430, ranking 41 of 51 states — about 1.78% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 475 occupations Montana reports figures for, this is number 245.
- Montana is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $57,430 the take-home is $46,382; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $51,397 would nationally. The average comes to $59,460, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Montana ranks 41 of 51 for postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators, with a median of $57,430 — about 1.78% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- In Montana's occupational distribution, postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators sits at 245 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.
- Post-tax income for postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators in Montana, on $57,430, is $46,382 — equivalent to $51,397 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $59,460 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Postal Service Mail Sorters, Processors, and Processing Machine Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $45,530 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $57,430 |
| Top tenth earn over | $75,030 |
| This salary | $57,430 |
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 | $46,382 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $48,325 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,667 |
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 | $55,012 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,016 |
| 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 sorters, processors, and processing machine operators in Montana earn under $57,430 and half over. The published range runs $45,530 at the tenth percentile to $75,030 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $46,382 take-home in Montana comes from $57,430. 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 245 of 475.
- One number stands for prices across all of Montana, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $51,397, the adjusted value of that $57,430 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 245 of 475 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators in Montana, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $45,530 to $75,030; 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 $46,382, from $57,430, 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 245 of 475 locally, and the state ranks 41 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Montana, so $51,397 — the adjusted value of that $57,430 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 245 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 $59,460, 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 $45,530 and the top tenth $75,030, so most people doing this work in Montana sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Montana is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $51,397 in national terms.
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 $46,382 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.
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 $59,460. 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 ($45,530 to $75,030) 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 $51,397 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 $46,382 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.