Montana · BLS May 2025

How much does a teaching assistant make in Montana?

Also called teacher aide, paraprofessional. BLS records this occupation as Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary” (SOC 25-9045).

A teaching assistant in Montana earns a median of $34,750 a year, about $2,435 a month after federal, state and FICA tax. Figure from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey. The survey counted 3,930 of these jobs in Montana in May 2025.

Median pay · Montana

$34,750A year. BLS publishes no hourly wage for this occupation.
Take-home a month$2,435After federal, state and FICA tax at 15.9%
Worth at national prices$36,716Prices here sit at 94.6 against 100
Against the nation5.5% belowNational median $36,780
What teaching assistants earn in Montana, May 2025
PercentileAnnualHourly
10th percentile1 in 10 earn less$23,950Not published
25th percentile$29,390Not published
MedianHalf earn more, half less$34,750Not published
75th percentile$37,510Not published
90th percentile1 in 10 earn more$45,430Not published
MeanAll pay divided by all jobs$34,820Not published

Wage survey · BLS May 2025

How we got this
  1. Median wage in MontanaBLS OEWS May 2025. Half of the people in this job were paid more than this, half less.$34,750
  2. Take-home after federal, state and FICA tax$2,435 a month at an effective rate of 15.9%.$29,225 a year
  3. Worth at national average pricesPrices in Montana sit at 94.6 against a national 100 (BEA, 2024).$36,716
  4. Against the national medianThe national median is $36,780.5.5% below
  5. Jobs countedA concentration of 0.84 against the nation's 1.00.3,930
What we assumed
  • Wages are BLS OEWS survey estimates for May 2025, not job postings or offers.
  • OEWS surveys wage and salary workers. The self-employed and business owners are outside it.
  • Take-home assumes one 2026 filer, filing single, taking the standard deduction, with no dependents, pre-tax retirement contributions or local income tax.
  • BLS publishes only an annual wage for this occupation, because a standard 2,080-hour year would misdescribe it.
  • Regional price parities compare price levels between places in one year. They are not inflation, and they do not adjust for what a household actually buys.
Technical details

Method occupation-wage-v1Data bls-oews-2025-05-v1, us-tax-2026-v1, bea-rpp-2024-v1, census-acs5-2024-v1

What lands in the bank

Tax year 2026 · Interactive

Estimated on the median salary of $34,750 in Montana, for a single filer taking the standard deduction in 2026. Explore other wage levels and filing statuses below.

$34,750
$20,000$50,000
Filing status:
Gross salary breakdown$34,750
Net 84%
Fed 6%
MT 3%
FICA 8%
Annual take-home$29,225After all taxes
Monthly deposit$2,435Estimated per month
Biweekly paycheck$1,124Every 2 weeks (26/yr)
Effective tax rate15.9%Total tax burden
Federal income tax$1,990 / yr
Montana state income tax$877 / yr
FICA (Social Security & Medicare)$2,658 / yr

Run the numbers on your own pay

Same U.S. tax tables as the rest of the site. Change the salary, state, or filing status.

What $34,750 is worth in Montana

Prices in Montana sit at 94.6 against a national average of 100, so $34,750 earned here buys what $36,716 buys at national average prices.

  • Rents. 84.6 against 100, the component that moves most between states.
  • Against local households. The median household in Montana takes in $72,509, so this occupation's median is 0.48 times that, on one income.
  • How common the job is here. 16% less concentrated in Montana than in the country as a whole.

Compare two places properly →

Reading the numbers

What stands out for teaching assistants in Montana

The top of the pay range is stretched out. Going from the 75th to the 90th percentile adds $7,920, against $2,760 from the median to the 75th. The best-paid 10% of teaching assistants in Montana make $45,430 or more.

The median for this job is 0.5 times the median household income in Montana ($72,509). Many households have two earners, so one paycheck at this level falls short of what a typical local household brings in.

Common questions

Teaching Assistant pay in Montana, answered

How much does a teaching assistant make in Montana?

The median wage for teaching assistants in Montana is $34,750 a year.

Half earn more than that and half earn less. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational wage survey for May 2025.

What is the average teaching assistant salary in Montana?

BLS’s mean (average) wage for teaching assistants in Montana is $34,820 a year. The median is $34,750.

The mean sits higher when a smaller group of high earners pulls the average up. For a typical paycheck, the median is the better middle.

What is the starting salary for a teaching assistant in Montana?

BLS does not publish starting pay. The closest figure it does publish is the low end of the range: in Montana, the lowest-paid 10% of teaching assistants earn under $23,950 a year and a quarter earn under $29,390.

New hires often start somewhere in that band, but the May 2025 survey does not record experience, so read it as a floor to compare an offer against rather than a typical first salary.

What is the salary range for a teaching assistant in Montana?

The overall salary range for teaching assistants in Montana spans from $23,950 for the bottom 10% to $45,430 for top earners.

The middle 50% earn between $29,390 and $37,510 a year, with the overall median at $34,750.

What is the take-home pay for a teaching assistant in Montana?

On the median wage of $34,750, a single filer taking the 2026 standard deduction keeps an estimated $29,225 a year, or roughly $2,435 a month.

That is after federal, state and FICA tax, an effective rate of 15.9%.

Montana takes $877 of it in state income tax.

How much does a teaching assistant make a month in Montana?

On the median annual salary of $34,750, estimated take-home pay is roughly $2,435 a month after federal, state, and FICA taxes.

For workers paid on a standard biweekly schedule (26 pay periods per year), each paycheck is approximately $1,124 net.

Do teaching assistants earn more in Montana than in the rest of the country?

No. The median in Montana is 5.5% below the national median of $36,780.

Nominal pay is only half the comparison: prices in Montana sit at 94.6 against a national 100, so the gap in what the money buys is different from the gap in the salary.

Is $34,750 a good salary in Montana?

It is 0.48 times the median household income of $72,509. A household often has more than one earner, so a single salary at this level goes further than the ratio alone suggests.

Prices in Montana run at 94.6 against a national average of 100, with rents at 84.6, so $34,750 here buys about what $36,716 buys at national average prices.

What do the highest-paid teaching assistants earn in Montana?

The top tenth earn $45,430 a year or more. The 10th-percentile wage is $23,950.

Experience, specialty, employer and the part of Montana someone works in all move a wage inside that range; the survey reports the spread, not the reason for it.

How many teaching assistants are there in Montana?

The survey counted 3,930 of these jobs in Montana for May 2025.

That makes the occupation 16% less concentrated here than in the country as a whole. It counts wage and salary jobs, so the self-employed are outside it.

Sources

Where this data comes from

Notice a discrepancy with official data? Report an issue to hello@costanswer.com ↗