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Salary data from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics

Camera Operators, Television, Video, And Film Salary: Montana vs New Jersey

Camera Operators, Television, Video, And Film earn a median of $35,080 in Montana and $85,560 in New Jersey. That is a nominal gap of $50,480 (-59.0%), with New Jersey paying more before any cost-of-living adjustment.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, May 2024 estimates. Cost-of-living adjustment uses BEA Regional Price Parities, most recent release.

$35,080
Montana median
$37,065 after COL
$85,560
New Jersey median
$78,636 after COL
-59.0%
Nominal gap
New Jersey leads
-52.9%
Adjusted gap
New Jersey leads after COL

The story behind the numbers

On raw wages, New Jersey pays $50,480 more per year than Montana for camera operators, television, video, and film, a gap of +59.0%.

After adjusting for cost of living, New Jersey still comes out ahead, with roughly $41,571 of extra purchasing power (+52.9% real gap). Local prices do not reverse the nominal advantage.

Full breakdown by location

Detailed wage, employment, and cost-of-living figures for camera operators, television, video, and film in each location. Click through to the full local salary page for percentiles, outlook, and peer areas.

Camera Operators, Television, Video, And Film

Montana

Median salary
$35,080
Mean salary
$42,240
Employment
130
Location quotient
1.66
Jobs per 1,000
0.3
COL-adjusted median
$37,065
Regional Price Parity
94.6%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Camera Operators, Television, Video, And Film page for Montana →

Camera Operators, Television, Video, And Film

New Jersey

Median salary
$85,560
Mean salary
$100,430
Employment
440
Location quotient
0.66
Jobs per 1,000
0.1
COL-adjusted median
$78,636
Regional Price Parity
108.8%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Camera Operators, Television, Video, And Film page for New Jersey →

Related pages

Keep digging into camera operators, television, video, and film from a different angle.

Common questions about this comparison

What does the cost-of-living adjustment actually do? +

It divides each location's nominal median wage by its Regional Price Parity (RPP), which measures how local prices compare to the national average (100 = national). A wage of $100,000 in an area with RPP 120 has the same purchasing power as roughly $83,000 nationally.

Why would the nominal and adjusted winners disagree? +

High-cost metros often pay higher salaries, but not by enough to fully offset the higher cost of housing, goods, and services. When that happens, the location with the lower nominal wage actually offers more real purchasing power.

What is a location quotient? +

The location quotient measures how concentrated an occupation is in a given area versus the national average. A value of 2.0 means the occupation is twice as common there as nationally. It is a signal of what a state specializes in.