Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers in Montana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$77,434
after federal, FICA and Montana tax
Tax takes
$26,496
25.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$85,805
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
$103,930
Kept after tax
$77,434
Worth in national money
$85,805
State rank
14
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Montana is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $103,930, which ranks 14 of 46 states with published figures. That is about 0.35% above the national middle.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 475 occupations Montana reports, this job comes in at 33 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $103,930 you keep $77,434 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $85,805 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $109,480, since top earners drag the number up.
- Montana ranks 14 of 46 states publishing a median for software quality assurance analysts and testers, at $103,930 — about 0.35% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Software quality assurance analysts and testers ranks 33 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.
- Retained pay in Montana is $77,434 after the full tax stack, from $103,930. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $85,805 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $109,480 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $50,380 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $103,930 |
| Top tenth earn over | $170,620 |
| This salary | $103,930 |
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 | $77,434 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $81,945 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,478 |
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 | $97,518 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,041 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $103,930 as a midpoint for Montana, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $50,380 and the ninetieth is $170,620 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $77,434 take-home in Montana comes from $103,930. 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 33 of 475.
- Two cautions on $85,805, the adjusted value of that $103,930 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 33 of 475 locally.
- The Montana median of $103,930 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $50,380 to $170,620. 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 $77,434, from $103,930, 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 33 of 475 locally, and the state ranks 14 of 46 for it.
- This $85,805 adjusted figure, worked from $103,930, 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 33 of 475 in the state. The occupation ranks 33 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 $109,480, 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 $50,380 at the bottom tenth to $170,620 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 $85,805.
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 $77,434 of this wage survives to your account.
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.
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 $109,480. 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 ($50,380) and the ninetieth ($170,620) 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 $85,805 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 $77,434 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.