Social Scientists and Related Workers, All Other in Montana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$63,491
after federal, FICA and Montana tax
Tax takes
$18,889
22.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$70,355
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
$82,380
Kept after tax
$63,491
Worth in national money
$70,355
State rank
41
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Montana. The middle earner gets $82,380. That is 41 of 49 states, and about 18.52% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 475 occupations Montana reports, this job comes in at 84 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Here is where Montana does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $82,380 you keep $63,491, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $70,355 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $86,820, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For social scientists and related workers, all other, Montana sits in the lower band at $82,380, ranking 41 of 49 and trailing the national median by about 18.52%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Social scientists and related workers, all other ranks 84 of 475 occupations by median in Montana, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- After federal, FICA and Montana income tax, retained pay for social scientists and related workers, all other on $82,380 is $63,491. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $70,355 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 $86,820 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Social Scientists and Related Workers, All Other
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $63,420 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $82,380 |
| Top tenth earn over | $115,920 |
| This salary | $82,380 |
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 | $63,491 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $66,784 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,629 |
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 | $77,698 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,250 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $82,380 as a midpoint for Montana, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $63,420 and the ninetieth is $115,920 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $63,491 take-home in Montana comes from $82,380. 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 84 of 475.
- Two cautions on $70,355, the adjusted value of that $82,380 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 84 of 475 locally.
- The Montana median of $82,380 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $63,420 to $115,920. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $63,491, from $82,380, 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 84 of 475 locally, and the state ranks 41 of 49 for it.
- This $70,355 adjusted figure, worked from $82,380, 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 84 of 475 in the state. The occupation ranks 84 of 475 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $86,820 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $63,420 at the tenth percentile, $115,920 at the ninetieth.
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 $70,355 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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, $63,491 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 49 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 $86,820. 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 ($63,420 to $115,920) 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 $70,355 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 $63,491 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.