Project Management Specialists in Montana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$67,056
after federal, FICA and Montana tax
Tax takes
$20,834
23.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$74,305
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
$87,890
Kept after tax
$67,056
Worth in national money
$74,305
State rank
41
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Montana is among the lower-paying states for project management specialists. The middle earner takes $87,890, ranking 41 of 51 states — about 14.1% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 475 occupations Montana reports, project management specialists comes in at 72 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Montana is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $87,890 the take-home is $67,056; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $74,305 would nationally. The average comes to $96,530, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Montana ranks 41 of 51 for project management specialists, with a median of $87,890 — about 14.1% 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.
- Project management specialists ranks 72 of 475 occupations by median in Montana, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Post-tax income for project management specialists in Montana, on $87,890, is $67,056 — equivalent to $74,305 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 $96,530 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Project Management Specialists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $58,680 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $87,890 |
| Top tenth earn over | $143,170 |
| This salary | $87,890 |
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 | $67,056 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $70,661 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,590 |
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 | $82,766 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,196 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $87,890 as a midpoint for Montana, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $58,680 and the ninetieth is $143,170 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Montana's $67,056, worked from $87,890. 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 72 of 475.
- Two cautions on $74,305, the adjusted value of that $87,890 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 72 of 475 locally.
- The Montana median of $87,890 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $58,680 to $143,170. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Montana take-home of $67,056, on $87,890 for work ranking 72 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 72 of 475 in the state.
- This $74,305 adjusted figure, worked from $87,890, 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 72 of 475 in the state. The occupation ranks 72 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 $96,530, 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?
The label is broader than the work. From $58,680 at the bottom tenth to $143,170 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $74,305 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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, $67,056 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 $96,530. 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 ($58,680) and the ninetieth ($143,170) 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 $74,305 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 $67,056 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.