Jobs and pay in Montana

The highest-paying occupations in Montana

Sorted by median annual wage — the midpoint of what people in the occupation are paid in this state, not what a newcomer earns. Occupations BLS did not release a wage for are absent rather than shown as zero.

2 further occupations are paid more than every figure below, but BLS publishes them only as $239,200 or more, its reporting cap: anesthesiologists, emergency medicine physicians. They cannot be ranked against each other, so they are named here rather than listed as identical rows.

1. Orthopedic surgeons, except pediatric$560,820
2. Physicians, all other$438,850
3. Radiologists$360,330
4. Family medicine physicians$330,760
5. Orthodontists$312,840
6. Nurse anesthetists$277,380
7. Pediatricians, general$273,260
8. Chief executives$182,340
9. Dentists, general$167,200
10. Marketing managers$165,580
11. Architectural and engineering managers$146,030
12. Pharmacists$142,080
13. Physician assistants$141,470
14. Nurse practitioners$137,210
15. Computer and information systems managers$132,860
16. Advertising and promotions managers$131,770
17. Financial managers$131,060
18. Administrative services managers$129,670
19. Chemical engineers$127,490
20. Psychologists, all other$126,960
21. Purchasing managers$123,480
22. Healthcare diagnosing or treating practitioners, all other$122,930
23. Software developers$121,990
24. Industrial production managers$120,690
25. Natural sciences managers$119,430

Where the jobs actually are in Montana

The same list sorted by how many people are employed in each occupation, which is a different question from what it pays and usually a more useful one. High pay in an occupation employing 400 people statewide is a narrower opportunity than it looks.

1. Fast food and counter workers14,960 employed
2. Retail salespersons13,490 employed
3. Cashiers12,170 employed
4. General and operations managers11,840 employed
5. Registered nurses10,950 employed
6. Home health and personal care aides10,400 employed
7. Office clerks, general10,390 employed
8. Stockers and order fillers8,900 employed
9. Janitors and cleaners, except maids and housekeeping cleaners8,320 employed
10. Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers7,830 employed
11. Cooks, restaurant7,580 employed
12. Waiters and waitresses7,200 employed
13. Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks6,980 employed
14. First-line supervisors of retail sales workers5,830 employed
15. Maintenance and repair workers, general5,420 employed
16. Maids and housekeeping cleaners5,380 employed
17. Bartenders5,370 employed
18. Elementary school teachers, except special education4,960 employed
19. Customer service representatives4,910 employed
20. Business operations specialists, all other4,760 employed
21. Accountants and auditors4,730 employed
22. First-line supervisors of food preparation and serving workers4,650 employed
23. Construction laborers4,590 employed
24. Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive4,520 employed
25. Medical secretaries and administrative assistants4,410 employed

The best-paid Montana work that typically needs no bachelor's degree

Occupations BLS reports as typically entered with an associate's degree, a postsecondary certificate, some college, a high-school diploma, or no formal credential — sorted by what they pay here. Typical is not a requirement, individual employers set their own, and many of these carry state licensing that the national figure does not capture.

1. Electrical power-line installers and repairers$110,320 · High school diploma or equivalent
2. Farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural managers$110,250 · High school diploma or equivalent
3. Transportation, storage, and distribution managers$108,180 · High school diploma or equivalent
4. Power plant operators$106,040 · High school diploma or equivalent
5. Radiation therapists$105,400 · Associate's degree
6. Commercial pilots$103,690 · Postsecondary nondegree award
7. Air traffic controllers$101,380 · Associate's degree
8. Diagnostic medical sonographers$101,000 · Associate's degree
9. Nuclear medicine technologists$100,490 · Associate's degree
10. Dental hygienists$98,440 · Associate's degree
11. Petroleum pump system operators, refinery operators, and gaugers$98,310 · High school diploma or equivalent
12. Electrical and electronics repairers, powerhouse, substation, and relay$97,380 · Postsecondary nondegree award
13. Electrical and electronics installers and repairers, transportation equipment$96,560 · Postsecondary nondegree award
14. Detectives and criminal investigators$92,410 · High school diploma or equivalent
15. Elevator and escalator installers and repairers$90,370 · High school diploma or equivalent
16. Locomotive engineers$90,220 · High school diploma or equivalent
17. First-line supervisors of police and detectives$89,380 · High school diploma or equivalent
18. Postmasters and mail superintendents$88,920 · High school diploma or equivalent
19. Magnetic resonance imaging technologists$86,950 · Associate's degree
20. Funeral home managers$84,900 · Associate's degree
21. Underground mining machine operators, all other$84,410 · No formal educational credential
22. Gas compressor and gas pumping station operators$83,750 · High school diploma or equivalent
23. Gas plant operators$83,630 · High school diploma or equivalent
24. Cardiovascular technologists and technicians$82,850 · Associate's degree
25. First-line supervisors of firefighting and prevention workers$82,820 · Postsecondary nondegree award

A certificate is a different credential from a degree, not a lesser one. CampusPin publishes the national picture of pay by entry education and which fields are actually awarded as certificates rather than degrees.

What Montana does more of than the rest of the country

Location quotient: this occupation's share of Montana employment divided by its share of U.S. employment. 2.0 means twice as concentrated here as nationally. It describes where the work IS — not what it pays, and not how easy it is to be hired. Limited to occupations employing at least 500 people in the state, so a tiny base cannot manufacture a large ratio.

Gambling and sports book writers and runners lead, much more concentrated here than nationally.

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