Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Wood in Montana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$40,073
after federal, FICA and Montana tax
Tax takes
$9,017
18.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$44,405
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
$49,090
Kept after tax
$40,073
Worth in national money
$44,405
State rank
6
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Montana pays this job a middle wage of $49,090, ranking 6 of 46 states and sitting about 14.78% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 296 among 475 occupations Montana publishes pay for.
- Here is where Montana does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $49,090 you keep $40,073, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $44,405 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $50,450, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Montana's median for sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood is $49,090, about 14.78% above the national figure and 6 of 46 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Position 296 of 475 in Montana places sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- After federal, FICA and Montana income tax, retained pay for sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood on $49,090 is $40,073. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $44,405 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 $50,450 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Wood
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $42,320 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $49,090 |
| Top tenth earn over | $57,960 |
| This salary | $49,090 |
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 | $40,073 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $41,624 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,572 |
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 | $47,160 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,901 |
| 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 $49,090. The published range is $42,320 up to $57,960, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Montana's $40,073, worked from $49,090. 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 296 of 475.
- Two cautions on $44,405, the adjusted value of that $49,090 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 296 of 475 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood in Montana the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $42,320 to $57,960. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Montana take-home of $40,073, on $49,090 for work ranking 296 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 296 of 475 in the state.
- This $44,405 adjusted figure, worked from $49,090, 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 296 of 475 in the state. The occupation ranks 296 of 475 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $42,320 and the top tenth $57,960, so most people doing this work in Montana sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $44,405 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 $40,073.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 46 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($42,320 to $57,960) 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 $44,405 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 $40,073 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 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.