Bookkeeper salary in the East-Central Montana nonmetro area

Pay in the East-Central Montana nonmetro area against Montana and the US

The middle half of bookkeepers in the East-Central Montana nonmetro area earns $40,210–$53,550. Pay is tightly grouped: the top tenth starts at $61,520, only 1.8 times the bottom tenth, against 2.1 times across the US, so the going rate is easier to read. From the 25th to the 75th percentile, the local range is only $13,340 wide, against $15,280 across Montana and $17,950 nationally: employers in the East-Central Montana nonmetro area pay within a narrower band.

What to budget for a bookkeeper here

An offer at the 75th percentile instead of the median adds $7,210 a year in pay and about $9,303 in employer cost. Going down to the 25th percentile saves $6,130 in pay. These percentiles describe what people in the job earn locally, not experience levels, so place your offer by the tasks and seniority you need.

For scale, the US median of $50,670 falls between the median and the 75th percentile in the East-Central Montana nonmetro area, and the Montana statewide median of $47,270 falls there too.

What a hire really costs in the East-Central Montana nonmetro area

Pay is only part of it. Benefits and payroll taxes other than paid leave are 22.5% of total compensation in US private industry², which adds about $13,454 to the $46,340 median and brings it to $59,794 a year. Recruiting, equipment and office space come on top. Benefit levels vary by employer, so treat this as an estimate.

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Other roles in the East-Central Montana nonmetro area

Of the 14 roles we track in the East-Central Montana nonmetro area, this one ranks #10 by median pay, between paralegals ($48,470) and customer support specialists ($44,580). Project Coordinator is the highest at $79,920.

Measured against the US median, bookkeepers rank #5 of the 14 roles we track in the East-Central Montana nonmetro area (-8.5%), between payroll specialists (-5.4%) and accountants (-11.0%). The typical role here is at -11.4%, so this job follows the area's general pay level. Bookkeepers hold 22.4% of the jobs in these 14 roles in the East-Central Montana nonmetro area, 16.9% across Montana and 8.8% nationally. The job is a bigger part of the local workforce in these roles than it is nationally.

Other areas in Montana

Across the 8 areas of Montana with data for this job, the median runs from $45,760 in the Southwest Montana nonmetro area to $49,820 in Bozeman, a gap of $4,060 a year. All 2 areas in Montana with more bookkeepers than the East-Central Montana nonmetro area also pay more, among them the West Montana nonmetro area ($46,830) and Billings, MT ($47,830).

the East-Central Montana nonmetro area against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, the East-Central Montana nonmetro area is #290 of 521 US areas for this job. Both its size and its pay sit in the middle half of US areas. Outside Montana, Traverse City and State College pay just above the East-Central Montana nonmetro area and Mansfield and Paducah just below. All four are within $30 a year of the median in the East-Central Montana nonmetro area. Of the three markets with about as many bookkeepers, two pay more.

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How these pages are built: methodology and data sources. Last updated 2026-11-12.