Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary in Montana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$29,225
after federal, FICA and Montana tax
Tax takes
$5,525
15.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$32,385
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
$34,750
Kept after tax
$29,225
Worth in national money
$32,385
State rank
32
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Montana is 32 of 51 states for this job, with a middle wage of $34,750. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Within Montana this is lower-paid work. Of 475 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 451. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Here is where Montana does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $34,750 you keep $29,225, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $32,385 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $34,820, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Montana ranks 32 of 51 for teaching assistants, except postsecondary at $34,750. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Against every occupation Montana reports, teaching assistants, except postsecondary ranks 451 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.
- After federal, FICA and Montana income tax, retained pay for teaching assistants, except postsecondary on $34,750 is $29,225. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $32,385 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 $34,820 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $23,950 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $34,750 |
| Top tenth earn over | $45,430 |
| This salary | $34,750 |
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 | $29,225 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $30,102 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,408 |
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 | $33,659 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,703 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $34,750 as a midpoint for Montana, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $23,950 and the ninetieth is $45,430 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Montana's $29,225, worked from $34,750. 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 451 of 475.
- Two cautions on $32,385, the adjusted value of that $34,750 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 451 of 475 locally.
- The Montana median of $34,750 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $23,950 to $45,430. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Montana take-home of $29,225, on $34,750 for work ranking 451 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 451 of 475 in the state.
- This $32,385 adjusted figure, worked from $34,750, 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 451 of 475 in the state. The occupation ranks 451 of 475 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $23,950 at the bottom tenth to $45,430 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $32,385.
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, $29,225 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($23,950 to $45,430) 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 $32,385 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 $29,225 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.