Substitute Teachers, Short-Term in Montana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$24,148
after federal, FICA and Montana tax
Tax takes
$3,902
13.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$26,758
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
$28,050
Kept after tax
$24,148
Worth in national money
$26,758
State rank
44
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Montana pays substitute teachers, short-term a middle wage of $28,050, 44 of 50 states and about 32.69% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Montana this is lower-paid work. Of 475 occupations the state publishes figures for, substitute teachers, short-term ranks 469. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $28,050 you keep $24,148 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $26,758 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $30,060, since top earners drag the number up.
- Montana's $28,050 median for substitute teachers, short-term places it 44 of 50 states, about 32.69% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Against every occupation Montana reports, substitute teachers, short-term ranks 469 of 475, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Retained pay in Montana is $24,148 after the full tax stack, from $28,050. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $26,758 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $30,060 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Substitute Teachers, Short-Term
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $22,930 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $28,050 |
| Top tenth earn over | $38,230 |
| This salary | $28,050 |
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 | $24,148 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $24,709 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,331 |
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 | $27,368 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,598 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $28,050 as a midpoint for Montana, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $22,930 and the ninetieth is $38,230 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Montana the take-home figure of $24,148, from $28,050, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 469 of 475 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $26,758, the adjusted value of that $28,050 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 469 of 475 locally.
- The Montana median of $28,050 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $22,930 to $38,230. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Montana is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $24,148 from $28,050. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 469 of 475 locally.
- This $26,758 adjusted figure, worked from $28,050, 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 469 of 475 in the state. The occupation ranks 469 of 475 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $30,060, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $22,930 at the tenth percentile, $38,230 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Montana is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $26,758 in national terms.
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, $24,148 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 50 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $30,060. 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 ($22,930 to $38,230) 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 $26,758 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 $24,148 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.