Industrial Engineers in Alabama
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$74,924
after federal, FICA and Alabama tax
Tax takes
$24,956
25.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$83,276
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
$99,880
Kept after tax
$74,924
Worth in national money
$83,276
State rank
36
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Alabama is among the lower-paying states for industrial engineers. The middle earner takes $99,880, ranking 36 of 51 states — about 2.5% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Within Alabama this is well-paid work. Of 482 occupations with published figures in the state, industrial engineers ranks 50 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Here is where Alabama does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $99,880 you keep $74,924, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $83,276 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $104,900, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Alabama ranks 36 of 51 for industrial engineers, with a median of $99,880 — about 2.5% 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.
- Ranked against every occupation Alabama publishes a median for, industrial engineers sits 50 of 482 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- After federal, FICA and Alabama income tax, retained pay for industrial engineers on $99,880 is $74,924. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $83,276 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 $104,900 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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: Industrial Engineers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $68,410 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $99,880 |
| Top tenth earn over | $152,970 |
| This salary | $99,880 |
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 | $74,924 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $79,096 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,881 |
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 | $93,950 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,599 |
| 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 industrial engineers in Alabama earn under $99,880 and half over. The published range runs $68,410 at the tenth percentile to $152,970 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $74,924 take-home in Alabama comes from $99,880. 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 50 of 482.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $83,276 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 50.
- Figures are distribution medians for industrial engineers in Alabama, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $68,410 to $152,970; 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 $74,924, from $99,880, 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 50 of 482 locally, and the state ranks 36 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $83,276, worked from $99,880, 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 50 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 $104,900 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $68,410 and the top tenth $152,970 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $83,276 in national terms.
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 $74,924 of this wage survives to your account.
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 $104,900. 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 ($68,410) and the ninetieth ($152,970) 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 $83,276 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 $74,924 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.