Automotive Service Technicians and Mechanics in Alabama
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$36,900
after federal, FICA and Alabama tax
Tax takes
$8,740
19.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$41,013
Alabama costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Alabama — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$45,640
Kept after tax
$36,900
Worth in national money
$41,013
State rank
47
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Alabama. The middle earner gets $45,640. That is 47 of 51 states, and about 9.84% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 482 occupations Alabama reports figures for, this is number 305.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $45,640 you keep $36,900 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $41,013 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $51,020, since top earners drag the number up.
- For automotive service technicians and mechanics, Alabama sits in the lower band at $45,640, ranking 47 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 9.84%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- In Alabama's occupational distribution, automotive service technicians and mechanics sits at 305 of 482 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Retained pay in Alabama is $36,900 after the full tax stack, from $45,640. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $41,013 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $51,020 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Automotive Service Technicians and Mechanics
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,030 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $45,640 |
| Top tenth earn over | $79,230 |
| This salary | $45,640 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Alabama | $36,900 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $38,852 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,032 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $43,210 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,248 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Alabama earn less than $45,640. The published range is $31,030 up to $79,230, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $36,900 take-home in Alabama comes from $45,640. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 305 of 482.
- Two cautions on $41,013, the adjusted value of that $45,640 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Alabama. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 305 of 482 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for automotive service technicians and mechanics in Alabama the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $31,030 to $79,230. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $36,900, from $45,640, assumes a single Alabama filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 305 of 482 locally, and the state ranks 47 of 51 for it.
- This $41,013 adjusted figure, worked from $45,640, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 305 of 482 in the state. The occupation ranks 305 of 482 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $51,020, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $31,030 at the bottom tenth to $79,230 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Alabama is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $41,013 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Alabama adds its own income tax on top — which is why $36,900 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Alabama is $51,020. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($31,030) and the ninetieth ($79,230) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Alabama's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $41,013 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $36,900 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Alabama income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.