Ushers, Lobby Attendants, and Ticket Takers in Montana

A wooden roller coaster above a sunny garden-lined amusement park path.

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$28,975

after federal, FICA and Montana tax

Tax takes

$5,445

15.8% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$32,108

Montana costs less than average

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

$34,420

Kept after tax

$28,975

Worth in national money

$32,108

State rank

11

of 50 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • Pay for this job is strong here. Montana's middle earner gets $34,420, putting the state 11 of 50 — about 4.59% ahead of the national figure.
  • Within Montana this is lower-paid work. Of 475 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 453. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
  • Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $34,420 you keep $28,975 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $32,108 at national prices. Here the average runs under the middle, at $32,710.
  • For ushers, lobby attendants, and ticket takers, Montana sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $34,420, ranking 11 of 50 and running about 4.59% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
  • Against every occupation Montana reports, ushers, lobby attendants, and ticket takers ranks 453 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 $28,975 after the full tax stack, from $34,420. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $32,108 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $32,710 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.

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Pay band: Ushers, Lobby Attendants, and Ticket Takers

The state median for this job

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$22,510
Half earn under$34,420
Top tenth earn over$39,120
This salary$34,420

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

Compare with
+$861take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in Montana$28,975
Take-home in Texas$29,836
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity−$1,404

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

Moving to
$0$36,118
$36,118in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$33,348
Raise you would need+$1,698
Prices in Texas97 vs 90

State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.

Sources and assumptions
  • Treat $34,420 as a midpoint for Montana, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $22,510 and the ninetieth is $39,120 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
  • In Montana the take-home figure of $28,975, from $34,420, 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 453 of 475 occupations here.
  • The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $32,108 uses one figure for the whole of Montana. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 475 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 453.
  • The Montana median of $34,420 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $22,510 to $39,120. 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 $28,975 from $34,420. 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 453 of 475 locally.
  • Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $32,108, worked from $34,420, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Montana address, on work sitting at 453 of 475 locally.

Questions people ask

Is this the average pay for the job?

Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $32,710 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.

How much does pay for this job actually vary?

The range here is narrow. From $22,510 at the bottom tenth to $39,120 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 $32,108 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.

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 $28,975 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 50 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 $32,710. 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 ($22,510 to $39,120) 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 $32,108 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 $28,975 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.