Food Preparation Workers in Alabama
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$23,458
after federal, FICA and Alabama tax
Tax takes
$4,472
16.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$26,073
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
$27,930
Kept after tax
$23,458
Worth in national money
$26,073
State rank
47
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for food preparation workers is on the low side in Alabama. The middle earner gets $27,930. That is 47 of 51 states, and about 20.92% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 482 occupations Alabama publishes, food preparation workers lands at 461. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $27,930 you keep $23,458 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $26,073 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $28,460, since top earners drag the number up.
- For food preparation workers, Alabama sits in the lower band at $27,930, ranking 47 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 20.92%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Alabama, this work ranks 461 of 482 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Retained pay in Alabama is $23,458 after the full tax stack, from $27,930. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $26,073 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $28,460 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Food Preparation Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $20,820 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $27,930 |
| Top tenth earn over | $37,580 |
| This salary | $27,930 |
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 | $23,458 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $24,610 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$747 |
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 | $26,531 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$890 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $27,930 as a midpoint for Alabama, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $20,820 and the ninetieth is $37,580 — 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 $23,458, worked from $27,930. 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 461 of 482.
- One number stands for prices across all of Alabama, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $26,073, the adjusted value of that $27,930 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 461 of 482 in the state.
- The Alabama median of $27,930 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $20,820 to $37,580. 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 $23,458, on $27,930 for work ranking 461 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 461 of 482 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Alabama, so $26,073 — the adjusted value of that $27,930 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 461 of 482 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $20,820 at the bottom tenth to $37,580 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $26,073.
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, $23,458 remains.
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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($20,820 to $37,580) 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 $26,073 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 $23,458 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.