Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants in Alabama
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,284
after federal, FICA and Alabama tax
Tax takes
$6,646
18.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$33,660
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
$36,930
Kept after tax
$30,284
Worth in national money
$33,660
State rank
49
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Alabama. The middle earner gets $36,930. That is 49 of 51 states, and about 19.6% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 482 occupations Alabama publishes, this job lands at 387. 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 $36,930 you keep $30,284 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $33,660 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $39,460, since top earners drag the number up.
- For medical secretaries and administrative assistants, Alabama sits in the lower band at $36,930, ranking 49 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 19.6%. 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 387 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 $30,284 after the full tax stack, from $36,930. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $33,660 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $39,460 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Medical Secretaries and Administrative Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $29,890 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $36,930 |
| Top tenth earn over | $50,900 |
| This salary | $36,930 |
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 | $30,284 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,853 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$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 | $34,977 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,066 |
| 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 $36,930. The published range is $29,890 up to $50,900, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Alabama the take-home figure of $30,284, from $36,930, 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 387 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 $33,660, the adjusted value of that $36,930 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 387 of 482 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for medical secretaries and administrative assistants in Alabama the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $29,890 to $50,900. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Alabama is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $30,284 from $36,930. 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 387 of 482 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Alabama, so $33,660 — the adjusted value of that $36,930 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 387 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 $39,460 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $29,890 at the bottom tenth to $50,900 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 $33,660.
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 $30,284 of this wage survives to your account.
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.
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 $39,460. 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 ($29,890 to $50,900) 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 $33,660 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 $30,284 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.