Camera Operators, Television, Video, and Film in Alabama
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$49,173
after federal, FICA and Alabama tax
Tax takes
$12,627
20.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$54,655
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
$61,800
Kept after tax
$49,173
Worth in national money
$54,655
State rank
17
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Alabama sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $61,800, ranking 17 of 46 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 482 occupations Alabama reports figures for, this is number 172.
- Here is where Alabama does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $61,800 you keep $49,173, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $54,655 would elsewhere. The average is lower, $59,130, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- Alabama occupies the middle band for camera operators, television, video, and film: a median of $61,800, ranking 17 of 46. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- In Alabama's occupational distribution, camera operators, television, video, and film sits at 172 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.
- After federal, FICA and Alabama income tax, retained pay for camera operators, television, video, and film on $61,800 is $49,173. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $54,655 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $59,130 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in wage data.
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Pay band: Camera Operators, Television, Video, and Film
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $41,190 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $61,800 |
| Top tenth earn over | $69,630 |
| This salary | $61,800 |
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 | $49,173 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $51,836 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,312 |
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 | $58,486 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,586 |
| 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 $61,800. The published range is $41,190 up to $69,630, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $49,173 take-home in Alabama comes from $61,800. 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 172 of 482.
- Two cautions on $54,655, the adjusted value of that $61,800 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 172 of 482 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for camera operators, television, video, and film in Alabama the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $41,190 to $69,630. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $49,173, from $61,800, 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 172 of 482 locally, and the state ranks 17 of 46 for it.
- This $54,655 adjusted figure, worked from $61,800, 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 172 of 482 in the state. The occupation ranks 172 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 $59,130, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $41,190 and the top tenth $69,630, so most people doing this work in Alabama sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $54,655.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Alabama's own levy, $49,173 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 46 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $59,130. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($41,190 to $69,630) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Alabama rather than a national figure.
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 $54,655 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 $49,173 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.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.