Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing in Montana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$37,441
after federal, FICA and Montana tax
Tax takes
$8,169
17.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$41,488
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
$45,610
Kept after tax
$37,441
Worth in national money
$41,488
State rank
19
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Montana is 19 of 47 states for this job, with a middle wage of $45,610. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Against other work in Montana, this sits in the middle: 352 of 475 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Montana is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $45,610 the take-home is $37,441; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $41,488 would nationally. The average lands at $44,390, below the middle of the range.
- Montana ranks 19 of 47 for woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing at $45,610. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing ranks 352 of 475 occupations in Montana by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Post-tax income for woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing in Montana, on $45,610, is $37,441 — equivalent to $41,488 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 $44,390 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
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Pay band: Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $32,020 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $45,610 |
| Top tenth earn over | $58,100 |
| This salary | $45,610 |
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 | $37,441 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $38,828 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,532 |
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 | $43,884 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,853 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Montana earn less than $45,610. The published range is $32,020 up to $58,100, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $37,441 take-home in Montana comes from $45,610. 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 352 of 475.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $41,488 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 352.
- Reported values are medians; for woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing in Montana the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $32,020 to $58,100. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $37,441, from $45,610, 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 352 of 475 locally, and the state ranks 19 of 47 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $41,488, worked from $45,610, 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 352 of 475 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $32,020 and the top tenth $58,100, so most people doing this work in Montana sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $41,488 in national terms.
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 $37,441 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 47 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($32,020 to $58,100) 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 $41,488 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 $37,441 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 47 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.