Child, Family, and School Social Workers in Alabama
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$37,674
after federal, FICA and Alabama tax
Tax takes
$8,986
19.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$41,874
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
$46,660
Kept after tax
$37,674
Worth in national money
$41,874
State rank
48
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Alabama is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $46,660, ranking 48 of 51 states — about 21.65% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 289 among 482 occupations Alabama publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $46,660 you keep $37,674 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $41,874 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $51,720, since top earners drag the number up.
- Alabama ranks 48 of 51 for child, family, and school social workers, with a median of $46,660 — about 21.65% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Position 289 of 482 in Alabama places child, family, and school social workers in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Retained pay in Alabama is $37,674 after the full tax stack, from $46,660. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $41,874 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $51,720 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Child, Family, and School Social Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,780 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,660 |
| Top tenth earn over | $72,490 |
| This salary | $46,660 |
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 | $37,674 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,671 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,050 |
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 | $44,175 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,269 |
| 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 child, family, and school social workers in Alabama earn under $46,660 and half over. The published range runs $37,780 at the tenth percentile to $72,490 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Alabama's $37,674, worked from $46,660. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 289 of 482.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $41,874 uses one figure for the whole of Alabama. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 482 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 289.
- Figures are distribution medians for child, family, and school social workers in Alabama, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $37,780 to $72,490; 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.
- The Alabama take-home of $37,674, on $46,660 for work ranking 289 of 482 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 289 of 482 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $41,874, worked from $46,660, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Alabama address, on work sitting at 289 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 $51,720, 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $37,780 and the top tenth $72,490 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $41,874.
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 $37,674 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 $51,720. 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 ($37,780) and the ninetieth ($72,490) 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 $41,874 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 $37,674 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.