Weighers, Measurers, Checkers, and Samplers, Recordkeeping in Montana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$33,545
after federal, FICA and Montana tax
Tax takes
$6,915
17.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$37,171
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
$40,460
Kept after tax
$33,545
Worth in national money
$37,171
State rank
45
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Montana pays this job a middle wage of $40,460, 45 of 49 states and about 12.76% 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, this job ranks 400. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Montana is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $40,460 the take-home is $33,545; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $37,171 would nationally. The average comes to $41,870, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Montana's $40,460 median for weighers, measurers, checkers, and samplers, recordkeeping places it 45 of 49 states, about 12.76% 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, weighers, measurers, checkers, and samplers, recordkeeping ranks 400 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.
- Post-tax income for weighers, measurers, checkers, and samplers, recordkeeping in Montana, on $40,460, is $33,545 — equivalent to $37,171 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 $41,870 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Weighers, Measurers, Checkers, and Samplers, Recordkeeping
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $34,430 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $40,460 |
| Top tenth earn over | $50,410 |
| This salary | $40,460 |
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 | $33,545 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $34,690 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,473 |
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 | $39,035 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,781 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of weighers, measurers, checkers, and samplers, recordkeeping in Montana earn under $40,460 and half over. The published range runs $34,430 at the tenth percentile to $50,410 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $33,545 take-home in Montana comes from $40,460. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 400 of 475.
- Two cautions on $37,171, the adjusted value of that $40,460 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 400 of 475 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for weighers, measurers, checkers, and samplers, recordkeeping in Montana, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $34,430 to $50,410; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Retained pay of $33,545, from $40,460, assumes a single Montana filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 400 of 475 locally, and the state ranks 45 of 49 for it.
- This $37,171 adjusted figure, worked from $40,460, 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 400 of 475 in the state. The occupation ranks 400 of 475 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $41,870, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $34,430 and the top tenth $50,410, so most people doing this work in Montana sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $37,171 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 $33,545 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 49 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 $41,870. 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 ($34,430 to $50,410) 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 $37,171 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 $33,545 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.