Urban and Regional Planners in Montana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$62,449
after federal, FICA and Montana tax
Tax takes
$18,321
22.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$69,200
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
$80,770
Kept after tax
$62,449
Worth in national money
$69,200
State rank
27
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Montana pays urban and regional planners around $80,770 at the midpoint, 27 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 475 occupations Montana reports, urban and regional planners comes in at 96 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Montana is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $80,770 the take-home is $62,449; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $69,200 would nationally. The average comes to $82,640, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For urban and regional planners the Montana median is $80,770, ranking 27 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Urban and regional planners ranks 96 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.
- Post-tax income for urban and regional planners in Montana, on $80,770, is $62,449 — equivalent to $69,200 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $82,640 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Urban and Regional Planners
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $57,310 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $80,770 |
| Top tenth earn over | $109,970 |
| This salary | $80,770 |
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 | $62,449 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $65,652 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,640 |
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 | $76,218 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,265 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $80,770 as a midpoint for Montana, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $57,310 and the ninetieth is $109,970 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Montana the take-home figure of $62,449, from $80,770, 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 96 of 475 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Montana, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $69,200, the adjusted value of that $80,770 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 96 of 475 in the state.
- The Montana median of $80,770 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $57,310 to $109,970. 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 $62,449 from $80,770. 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 96 of 475 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Montana, so $69,200 — the adjusted value of that $80,770 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 96 of 475 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $57,310 at the bottom tenth to $109,970 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $69,200 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, $62,449 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 ($57,310 to $109,970) 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 $69,200 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 $62,449 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.