Montana vs. Idaho Salary Benchmarks for Key Roles
You are hiring for the same role in two states at once. Same title, same duties, same posting. One fills quickly. The other sits open for weeks. The difference comes down to pay, because each market expects a different number for the same work.
This is the quiet challenge of cross-state hiring. Pay expectations shift from one state to the next. When your offer matches one market and misses the other, the open role is the one that pays the price.
Why Pay Expectations Matter When Hiring Across State Lines
According to ZipRecruiter’s 2025 Annual Employer Survey and companion New Hires Survey, more than half of new hires accepted their role because of better pay, and one in three employers was prevented from making a hire because candidates asked for more than they could offer.¹
Pay is always an important deciding factor when someone takes a new job. A candidate may like the work, the team, and the mission. But if the offer falls short of what they expect, they walk away.
For employers, that makes salary one of the most important parts of any hiring plan.
Here’s the catch: Pay expectations are not the same everywhere. They shift from state to state, shaped by local costs and local demand. An offer that wins a candidate in one state can fall flat in the next.
Employers who hire across state lines need to know the local pay benchmark before they make an offer, or they risk losing people they worked hard to find.
How Salaries Compare Between Montana and Idaho
The gap between states is easier to see with real numbers. The figures below show average yearly pay for several key roles in Montana and Idaho, drawn from May 2023 Bureau of Labor Statistics data — the most recent state-level occupational wage estimates available at time of publication.²˒³
Business and Financial Operations Occupations: Idaho averages $75,000 and Montana averages $74,040. The two states are nearly even.
Human Resource Specialists: Idaho averages $66,290 and Montana averages $64,620. Idaho is slightly higher.
Computer and Mathematical Occupations: Idaho averages $105,560 and Montana averages $89,880. Idaho pays much more here.
Production Occupations: Idaho averages $45,650 and Montana averages $49,270. Montana pays more here.
Construction and Extraction Occupations: Idaho averages $52,260 and Montana averages $58,990. Montana pays more here.
What Can We Take From This Comparison?
A few clear patterns stand out. None of them mean one state is always the better deal. They simply show where each state tends to pay more, which helps you plan smarter offers.
Idaho tends to pay more for tech work. The gap is widest in computer and math roles, where Idaho’s average runs nearly $16,000 higher than Montana’s.
Montana tends to pay more for hands-on roles. Both production and construction average higher in Montana than in Idaho.
Some roles, such as business and finance and human resources, are close to even. For these, the right offer likely depends more on the specific role and candidate than on the state.
Likely Factors That Drive Pay Differences Across States
The comparison shows real gaps, with each state pulling ahead in different roles. But what sits behind those differences? A few forces shape what a job pays in one state versus another.
1.Cost of Living
Higher living costs push wages up, because workers expect pay that covers them. For instance, housing is usually one of the biggest factors. When the cost of living climbs in a state, candidates there tend to ask for more to keep up.
2. Labor Supply and Demand
When employers in a state need more workers than the market has, pay climbs. Both Montana and Idaho are small-population states. When skilled workers are scarce, employers raise pay to compete for the ones who are available.
3. Population Growth and Migration
Both Montana and Idaho have drawn more residents through domestic migration than through international immigration in recent years, according to the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies — a pattern that has supported labor pool growth even as national immigration trends have shifted.⁴ More people means more demand for homes and workers, and that can push wages up.
4. Urban Versus Rural Mix
Metro areas tend to pay more than rural ones. Montana is more rural and spread out, while a state with larger cities will often show higher pay. That difference pulls each state’s statewide averages in a different direction.
Benchmark Your Pay Across Markets with LC Staffing
Getting compensation right across state lines is hard when expectations shift from one market to the next. LC Staffing can help.
With deep roots in Montana’s labor market and regional reach across the Mountain West, we help employers set competitive offers in Montana, Idaho, and the broader region — so you stop losing strong candidates over pay gaps.
References
- ZipRecruiter Economic Research. “The 2025 ZipRecruiter Annual Employer Survey.” ZipRecruiter Research, 2025, www.ziprecruiter-research.org/annual-employer-survey-2025.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. “May 2023 State Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates: Idaho.” 3 Apr. 2024, www.bls.gov/oes/2023/may/oes_id.htm#47-0000.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. “May 2023 State Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates: Montana.” 3 Apr. 2024, www.bls.gov/oes/2023/may/oes_mt.htm#29-0000.
- Frost, Riordan. “Population Growth Down Sharply and Projected to Fall Further.” Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, 26 Mar. 2026, www.jchs.harvard.edu/blog/population-growth-down-sharply-and-projected-fall-further.