Interior Designers in Alabama
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$48,603
after federal, FICA and Alabama tax
Tax takes
$12,447
20.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$54,022
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
$61,050
Kept after tax
$48,603
Worth in national money
$54,022
State rank
37
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Alabama pays interior designers a middle wage of $61,050, 37 of 49 states and about 9.14% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Interior designers ranks 186 among 482 occupations Alabama publishes pay for.
- Here is where Alabama does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $61,050 you keep $48,603, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $54,022 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $62,200, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Alabama's $61,050 median for interior designers places it 37 of 49 states, about 9.14% 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.
- Position 186 of 482 in Alabama places interior designers 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.
- After federal, FICA and Alabama income tax, retained pay for interior designers on $61,050 is $48,603. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $54,022 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 $62,200 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Interior Designers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $32,560 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $61,050 |
| Top tenth earn over | $103,030 |
| This salary | $61,050 |
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 | $48,603 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $51,234 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,299 |
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 | $57,777 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,571 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Alabama earn less than $61,050. The published range is $32,560 up to $103,030, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $48,603 take-home in Alabama comes from $61,050. 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 186 of 482.
- One number stands for prices across all of Alabama, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $54,022, the adjusted value of that $61,050 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 186 of 482 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for interior designers in Alabama the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $32,560 to $103,030. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $48,603, from $61,050, 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 186 of 482 locally, and the state ranks 37 of 49 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Alabama, so $54,022 — the adjusted value of that $61,050 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 186 of 482 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $32,560 and the top tenth $103,030 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $54,022 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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, $48,603 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 49 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($32,560) and the ninetieth ($103,030) 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 $54,022 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 $48,603 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.