Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education in Montana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$49,076
after federal, FICA and Montana tax
Tax takes
$11,914
19.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$54,381
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
$60,990
Kept after tax
$49,076
Worth in national money
$54,381
State rank
40
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 $60,990. That is 40 of 51 states, and about 15.34% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against other work in Montana, this sits in the middle: 198 of 475 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $60,990 you keep $49,076 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $54,381 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $61,550, since top earners drag the number up.
- For secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education, Montana sits in the lower band at $60,990, ranking 40 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 15.34%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education ranks 198 of 475 occupations in Montana by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Retained pay in Montana is $49,076 after the full tax stack, from $60,990. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $54,381 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $61,550 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,120 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $60,990 |
| Top tenth earn over | $81,270 |
| This salary | $60,990 |
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 | $49,076 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $51,185 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,708 |
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 | $58,364 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,065 |
| 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 secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education in Montana earn under $60,990 and half over. The published range runs $38,120 at the tenth percentile to $81,270 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 $49,076, worked from $60,990. 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 198 of 475.
- Two cautions on $54,381, the adjusted value of that $60,990 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 198 of 475 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education in Montana, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $38,120 to $81,270; 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 $49,076, on $60,990 for work ranking 198 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 198 of 475 in the state.
- This $54,381 adjusted figure, worked from $60,990, 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 198 of 475 in the state. The occupation ranks 198 of 475 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $38,120 at the bottom tenth to $81,270 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $54,381 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 $49,076 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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($38,120 to $81,270) 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 $54,381 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 $49,076 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.