Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors in Montana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$47,570
after federal, FICA and Montana tax
Tax takes
$11,430
19.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$52,713
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
$59,000
Kept after tax
$47,570
Worth in national money
$52,713
State rank
31
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Montana sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $59,000, ranking 31 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Against other work in Montana, this sits in the middle: 224 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 $59,000 you keep $47,570 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $52,713 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $60,590, since top earners drag the number up.
- Montana occupies the middle band for substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors: a median of $59,000, ranking 31 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors ranks 224 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 $47,570 after the full tax stack, from $59,000. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $52,713 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $60,590 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,840 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $59,000 |
| Top tenth earn over | $83,640 |
| This salary | $59,000 |
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 | $47,570 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $49,587 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,685 |
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 | $56,491 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,038 |
| 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 $59,000. The published range is $36,840 up to $83,640, 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 $47,570, worked from $59,000. 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 224 of 475.
- One number stands for prices across all of Montana, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $52,713, the adjusted value of that $59,000 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 224 of 475 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors in Montana the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $36,840 to $83,640. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Montana take-home of $47,570, on $59,000 for work ranking 224 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 224 of 475 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Montana, so $52,713 — the adjusted value of that $59,000 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 224 of 475 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $36,840, the highest tenth $83,640, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $52,713.
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 $47,570 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($36,840) and the ninetieth ($83,640) 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 $52,713 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 $47,570 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.