Power Plant Operators in Montana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$78,799
after federal, FICA and Montana tax
Tax takes
$27,241
25.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$87,317
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
$106,040
Kept after tax
$78,799
Worth in national money
$87,317
State rank
16
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Montana is one of the better-paying states for power plant operators. The middle earner takes $106,040, which ranks 16 of 49 states with published figures. That is about 3.92% above the national middle.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Montana. It ranks 26 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 $106,040 you keep $78,799 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $87,317 at national prices. Here the average runs under the middle, at $99,440.
- Montana ranks 16 of 49 states publishing a median for power plant operators, at $106,040 — about 3.92% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Within Montana, power plant operators ranks 26 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 $78,799 after the full tax stack, from $106,040. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $87,317 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $99,440 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Power Plant Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $62,840 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $106,040 |
| Top tenth earn over | $120,560 |
| This salary | $106,040 |
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 | $78,799 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $83,429 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,463 |
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 | $99,458 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,021 |
| 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 power plant operators in Montana earn under $106,040 and half over. The published range runs $62,840 at the tenth percentile to $120,560 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Montana the take-home figure of $78,799, from $106,040, 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 26 of 475 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $87,317 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 26.
- Figures are distribution medians for power plant operators in Montana, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $62,840 to $120,560; 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 $78,799 from $106,040. 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 26 of 475 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $87,317, worked from $106,040, 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 26 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 $99,440 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $62,840 at the tenth percentile, $120,560 at the ninetieth.
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 $87,317 in national terms.
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, $78,799 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 49 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release 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 $99,440. 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 ($62,840 to $120,560) 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 $87,317 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 $78,799 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.