Career/Technical Education Teachers, Postsecondary in Alabama
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$49,766
after federal, FICA and Alabama tax
Tax takes
$12,814
20.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$55,313
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
$62,580
Kept after tax
$49,766
Worth in national money
$55,313
State rank
23
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Alabama sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $62,580, ranking 23 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Against other work in Alabama, this sits in the middle: 164 of 482 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where Alabama does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $62,580 you keep $49,766, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $55,313 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $73,230, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Alabama occupies the middle band for career/technical education teachers, postsecondary: a median of $62,580, ranking 23 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Career/technical education teachers, postsecondary ranks 164 of 482 occupations in Alabama by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- After federal, FICA and Alabama income tax, retained pay for career/technical education teachers, postsecondary on $62,580 is $49,766. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $55,313 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 $73,230 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Career/Technical Education Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $44,800 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $62,580 |
| Top tenth earn over | $122,750 |
| This salary | $62,580 |
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 | $49,766 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $52,463 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,325 |
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 | $59,223 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,603 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of career/technical education teachers, postsecondary in Alabama earn under $62,580 and half over. The published range runs $44,800 at the tenth percentile to $122,750 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $49,766 take-home in Alabama comes from $62,580. 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 164 of 482.
- One number stands for prices across all of Alabama, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $55,313, the adjusted value of that $62,580 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 164 of 482 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for career/technical education teachers, postsecondary in Alabama, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $44,800 to $122,750; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Retained pay of $49,766, from $62,580, 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 164 of 482 locally, and the state ranks 23 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Alabama, so $55,313 — the adjusted value of that $62,580 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 164 of 482 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $73,230 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $44,800, the highest tenth $122,750, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $55,313 in national terms.
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, $49,766 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 $73,230. 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 ($44,800) and the ninetieth ($122,750) 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 $55,313 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 $49,766 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.