Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Except Technical and Scientific Products in Montana

A bright independent shop with household goods on wooden shelves.

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$49,590

after federal, FICA and Montana tax

Tax takes

$12,080

19.6% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$54,951

Montana costs less than average

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

$61,670

Kept after tax

$49,590

Worth in national money

$54,951

State rank

45

of 51 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • Pay for this job is on the low side in Montana. The middle earner gets $61,670. That is 45 of 51 states, and about 14.44% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
  • Middle of the local pack. Of 475 occupations Montana reports figures for, this is number 189.
  • Here is where Montana does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $61,670 you keep $49,590, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $54,951 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $71,070, because the best-paid pull it up.
  • For sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, except technical and scientific products, Montana sits in the lower band at $61,670, ranking 45 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 14.44%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
  • In Montana's occupational distribution, sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, except technical and scientific products sits at 189 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.
  • After federal, FICA and Montana income tax, retained pay for sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, except technical and scientific products on $61,670 is $49,590. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $54,951 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $71,070 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.

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: Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Except Technical and Scientific Products

The state median for this job

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$39,060
Half earn under$61,670
Top tenth earn over$107,800
This salary$61,670

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

Compare with
+$2,142take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in Montana$49,590
Take-home in Texas$51,732
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity−$1,715

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

Moving to
$0$63,745
$63,745in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$59,004
Raise you would need+$2,075
Prices in Texas97 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 sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, except technical and scientific products in Montana earn under $61,670 and half over. The published range runs $39,060 at the tenth percentile to $107,800 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 $49,590, worked from $61,670. 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 189 of 475.
  • The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $54,951 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 189.
  • Figures are distribution medians for sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, except technical and scientific products in Montana, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $39,060 to $107,800; 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 $49,590, on $61,670 for work ranking 189 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 189 of 475 in the state.
  • Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $54,951, worked from $61,670, 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 189 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 $71,070, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.

Why is the pay range for this job so wide?

The label is broader than the work. From $39,060 at the bottom tenth to $107,800 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.

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 $54,951.

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, $49,590 remains.

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 $71,070. 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 ($39,060) and the ninetieth ($107,800) 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 $54,951 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 $49,590 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.