Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas in Alabama
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$37,507
after federal, FICA and Alabama tax
Tax takes
$8,933
19.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$41,689
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
$46,440
Kept after tax
$37,507
Worth in national money
$41,689
State rank
46
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for earth drillers, except oil and gas is on the low side in Alabama. The middle earner gets $46,440. That is 46 of 48 states, and about 22.84% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Earth drillers, except oil and gas ranks 295 among 482 occupations Alabama publishes pay for.
- Alabama is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $46,440 the take-home is $37,507; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $41,689 would nationally. The average comes to $51,640, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For earth drillers, except oil and gas, Alabama sits in the lower band at $46,440, ranking 46 of 48 and trailing the national median by about 22.84%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Position 295 of 482 in Alabama places earth drillers, except oil and gas 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.
- Post-tax income for earth drillers, except oil and gas in Alabama, on $46,440, is $37,507 — equivalent to $41,689 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 $51,640 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $43,740 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,440 |
| Top tenth earn over | $67,970 |
| This salary | $46,440 |
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 | $37,507 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,495 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,046 |
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 | $43,967 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,265 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $46,440 as a midpoint for Alabama, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $43,740 and the ninetieth is $67,970 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Alabama's $37,507, worked from $46,440. 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 295 of 482.
- One number stands for prices across all of Alabama, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $41,689, the adjusted value of that $46,440 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 295 of 482 in the state.
- The Alabama median of $46,440 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $43,740 to $67,970. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Alabama take-home of $37,507, on $46,440 for work ranking 295 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 295 of 482 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Alabama, so $41,689 — the adjusted value of that $46,440 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 295 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 $51,640, 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?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $43,740 at the tenth percentile, $67,970 at the ninetieth.
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 $41,689 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, $37,507 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 48 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 $51,640. 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 ($43,740 to $67,970) 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 $41,689 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 $37,507 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.