Public pension benefits:
Amount[1] average full-career state government retiree gets per year,
not including social security: $34,308[2]
National average[3] social security benefit: $14,800 a year[4]
Add retirement benefit and social security benefit: $49,108
Incomes of Montanans:
Montana median wage: $14.79 $29,580 a year
Montana average weekly wage[5] 2013: $705. $35,250[6]
Montana per capita income 2012: $37,300[7]
Montana median household income: $43,226[8]
[1] MPERA CAFR page 281 http://mpera.mt.gov/docs/2012CAFR.pdf
[2] AEI: Not So Modest: Pension Benefits for Full-Career State Government Employees. Andrew Biggs
[3] Social security benefit for someone who worked all their adult life and retired at 65: 41%[3] of past earnings. For teachers that would be $20-24,000 a year
[4] http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=3261
[5] http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cewqtr.t03.htm
[6] for 50 weeks, 2.7% more than government retirees receive
Montana by the Numbers 