Rehabilitation Counselors in Montana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$37,161
after federal, FICA and Montana tax
Tax takes
$8,079
17.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$41,178
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
$45,240
Kept after tax
$37,161
Worth in national money
$41,178
State rank
36
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for rehabilitation counselors is on the low side in Montana. The middle earner gets $45,240. That is 36 of 51 states, and about 3.44% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 475 occupations Montana publishes, rehabilitation counselors lands at 357. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Montana is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $45,240 the take-home is $37,161; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $41,178 would nationally. The average comes to $49,040, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For rehabilitation counselors, Montana sits in the lower band at $45,240, ranking 36 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 3.44%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Montana, this work ranks 357 of 475 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Post-tax income for rehabilitation counselors in Montana, on $45,240, is $37,161 — equivalent to $41,178 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 $49,040 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Rehabilitation Counselors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,410 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $45,240 |
| Top tenth earn over | $59,900 |
| This salary | $45,240 |
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 | $37,161 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $38,530 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,528 |
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 | $43,535 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,848 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Montana earn less than $45,240. The published range is $37,410 up to $59,900, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $37,161 take-home in Montana comes from $45,240. 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 357 of 475.
- One number stands for prices across all of Montana, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $41,178, the adjusted value of that $45,240 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 357 of 475 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for rehabilitation counselors in Montana the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $37,410 to $59,900. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $37,161, from $45,240, 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 357 of 475 locally, and the state ranks 36 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Montana, so $41,178 — the adjusted value of that $45,240 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 357 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 $49,040, 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 $37,410 and the top tenth $59,900, 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 $41,178 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 $37,161 of this wage survives to your account.
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 $49,040. 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 ($37,410 to $59,900) 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 $41,178 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 $37,161 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.