Cleaners of Vehicles and Equipment in Alabama
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$24,551
after federal, FICA and Alabama tax
Tax takes
$4,809
16.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$27,288
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
$29,360
Kept after tax
$24,551
Worth in national money
$27,288
State rank
49
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Alabama pays this job a middle wage of $29,360, 49 of 51 states and about 18.06% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Alabama this is lower-paid work. Of 482 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 445. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Alabama is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $29,360 the take-home is $24,551; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $27,288 would nationally. The average comes to $31,620, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Alabama's $29,360 median for cleaners of vehicles and equipment places it 49 of 51 states, about 18.06% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Against every occupation Alabama reports, cleaners of vehicles and equipment ranks 445 of 482, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Post-tax income for cleaners of vehicles and equipment in Alabama, on $29,360, is $24,551 — equivalent to $27,288 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $31,620 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Cleaners of Vehicles and Equipment
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $23,580 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $29,360 |
| Top tenth earn over | $41,600 |
| This salary | $29,360 |
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 | $24,551 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $25,771 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$768 |
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 | $27,858 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$929 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $29,360 as a midpoint for Alabama, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $23,580 and the ninetieth is $41,600 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Alabama the take-home figure of $24,551, from $29,360, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 445 of 482 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Alabama, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $27,288, the adjusted value of that $29,360 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 445 of 482 in the state.
- The Alabama median of $29,360 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $23,580 to $41,600. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Alabama is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $24,551 from $29,360. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 445 of 482 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Alabama, so $27,288 — the adjusted value of that $29,360 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 445 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 $31,620, 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?
The range here is narrow. From $23,580 at the bottom tenth to $41,600 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Alabama sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $27,288 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Alabama then takes its own share, leaving $24,551.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
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 $31,620. 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 ($23,580 to $41,600) 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 $27,288 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 $24,551 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.