Average salary in Montana: $60,880 a year
The mean annual wage across every job BLS counts in Montana, with the median, the pay spread, the job groups and the occupations behind it.
The average salary in Montana is $60,880 a year ($29.27 an hour): that is the mean annual wage across 511,580 jobs in the BLS May 2025 survey. The median is $48,740 ($23.43 an hour), so half of those jobs paid less and half paid more. The mean sits above the median because a smaller number of very high wages pulls it up.
How Montana compares with the United States
Montana's mean salary is $8,890 (12.7%) below the U.S. figure of $69,770; its median is $2,240 (4.4%) below the U.S. figure of $50,980. Among the 50 states and DC, Montana ranks 38th by mean salary and 30th by median salary (1 = highest; calculated from the BLS figures).
| Measure | Montana | United States |
|---|---|---|
| Mean (average) salary | $60,880 | $69,770 |
| Median salary | $48,740 | $50,980 |
| Mean hourly wage | $29.27 | $33.54 |
| Median hourly wage | $23.43 | $24.51 |
| Jobs counted | 511,580 | 155,495,730 |
Prices matter as much as pay. BEA's regional price parity for Montana in 2024 is 94.6, where the United States = 100: overall prices there were about 5.4% below the national price level. A salary goes further where the index is lower.
What jobs in Montana pay, from low to high
One job in ten in Montana paid less than $29,390 a year, and one in ten paid more than $100,610. A quarter paid less than $37,210; a quarter paid more than $72,640.
| Area | 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Montana | $29,390 | $37,210 | $48,740 | $72,640 | $100,610 |
| United States | $31,200 | $37,590 | $50,980 | $80,520 | $128,560 |
Pay by job group in Montana
The largest group in Montana is office and administrative support, with 59,680 jobs (12% of the total, calculated). The best-paid group by median is management ($101,400); the lowest-paid is food preparation and serving related ($30,580). Where BLS does not release a figure, the table says so.
| Job group | Jobs | Median salary | Mean (average) salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Office and Administrative Support | 59,680 | $45,870 | $48,010 |
| Food Preparation and Serving Related | 53,110 | $30,580 | $33,550 |
| Sales and Related | 45,970 | $38,380 | $48,440 |
| Transportation and Material Moving | 39,220 | $45,780 | $49,590 |
| Management | 32,220 | $101,400 | $115,580 |
| Healthcare Practitioners and Technical | 32,120 | $82,160 | $106,440 |
| Construction and Extraction | 31,890 | $60,960 | $63,680 |
| Business and Financial Operations | 29,880 | $74,110 | $80,520 |
| Educational Instruction and Library | 28,710 | $48,490 | $56,650 |
| Installation, Maintenance, and Repair | 23,800 | $59,070 | $62,660 |
| Healthcare Support | 21,520 | $39,260 | $41,230 |
| Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance | 20,620 | $38,220 | $41,230 |
| Production | 17,650 | $48,210 | $53,930 |
| Personal Care and Service | 14,150 | $34,460 | $37,830 |
| Community and Social Service | 10,670 | $50,220 | $54,490 |
| Protective Service | 9,500 | $57,570 | $60,630 |
| Computer and Mathematical | 9,460 | $80,240 | $92,660 |
| Life, Physical, and Social Science | 8,860 | $70,810 | $75,950 |
| Architecture and Engineering | 8,190 | $81,330 | $88,990 |
| Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media | 7,960 | $51,260 | $59,160 |
| Legal | 4,180 | $83,620 | $94,350 |
| Farming, Fishing, and Forestry | 2,210 | $43,740 | $46,220 |
The occupations with the most jobs in Montana
9 of the 12 largest occupations in Montana with a published annual median paid a median below the all-jobs median of $48,740 (calculated from the BLS figures).
| Occupation | Jobs | Median salary |
|---|---|---|
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | 14,960 | $29,090 |
| Retail Salespersons | 13,490 | $36,270 |
| Cashiers | 12,170 | $34,190 |
| General and Operations Managers | 11,840 | $91,380 |
| Registered Nurses | 10,950 | $85,280 |
| Home Health and Personal Care Aides | 10,400 | $36,630 |
| Office Clerks, General | 10,390 | $46,480 |
| Stockers and Order Fillers | 8,900 | $39,050 |
| Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners | 8,320 | $37,110 |
| Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers | 7,830 | $58,870 |
| Cooks, Restaurant | 7,580 | $38,060 |
| Waiters and Waitresses | 7,200 | $23,370 |
Go deeper
The best-paid occupations, ranked.
Open →Pay floorMontana minimum wageThe state's hourly floor.
Open →PricesCost of living in MontanaWhat a salary buys there.
Open →Between jobsMontana unemployment benefitsThe weekly maximum and weeks payable.
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Questions people ask
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How this page is built
Every pay figure is a BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2025 estimate for all occupations in Montana (occupation code 00-0000), copied from BLS's data file; the job-group and occupation rows come from the same file. The average is BLS's mean wage (total wages divided by jobs); the median is the wage in the middle. OEWS wages are straight-time gross pay: they include commissions, tips, production bonuses and cost-of-living allowances, and leave out overtime premiums, shift differentials, nonproduction bonuses and benefits. BLS turns hourly wages into annual ones at 2,080 hours (40 hours for 52 weeks). Ranks, differences and shares are TryHired calculations from the BLS figures. Price levels are BEA Regional Price Parities.
- Household income: this page reports pay per job, not household or family income, which the Census Bureau measures differently.
- Starting pay: the figures include experienced workers. Entry-level pay is usually lower.
- Take-home pay: every figure is before taxes and deductions.
- Self-employment and farm work: not covered by OEWS (see the FAQ).
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 estimates: national, state and metropolitan-area data files (public domain).
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS technical notes: what the survey counts as wages and jobs.
- U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities, 2024 (released Feb 19, 2026).