Reservation and Transportation Ticket Agents and Travel Clerks in Montana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$35,549
after federal, FICA and Montana tax
Tax takes
$7,561
17.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$39,393
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
$43,110
Kept after tax
$35,549
Worth in national money
$39,393
State rank
23
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Montana is 23 of 50 states for this job, with a middle wage of $43,110. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Within Montana this is lower-paid work. Of 475 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 378. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Montana is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $43,110 the take-home is $35,549; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $39,393 would nationally. The average comes to $44,760, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Montana ranks 23 of 50 for reservation and transportation ticket agents and travel clerks at $43,110. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Against every occupation Montana reports, reservation and transportation ticket agents and travel clerks ranks 378 of 475, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Post-tax income for reservation and transportation ticket agents and travel clerks in Montana, on $43,110, is $35,549 — equivalent to $39,393 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 $44,760 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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: Reservation and Transportation Ticket Agents and Travel Clerks
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $26,430 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $43,110 |
| Top tenth earn over | $73,430 |
| This salary | $43,110 |
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 | $35,549 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $36,819 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,503 |
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 | $41,530 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,818 |
| 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 reservation and transportation ticket agents and travel clerks in Montana earn under $43,110 and half over. The published range runs $26,430 at the tenth percentile to $73,430 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 $35,549, worked from $43,110. 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 378 of 475.
- One number stands for prices across all of Montana, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $39,393, the adjusted value of that $43,110 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 378 of 475 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for reservation and transportation ticket agents and travel clerks in Montana, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $26,430 to $73,430; 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 $35,549, on $43,110 for work ranking 378 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 378 of 475 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Montana, so $39,393 — the adjusted value of that $43,110 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 378 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 $44,760, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $26,430, the highest tenth $73,430, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $39,393.
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 $35,549.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 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 $44,760. 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 ($26,430) and the ninetieth ($73,430) 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 $39,393 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 $35,549 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.