Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators in Alabama
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,327
after federal, FICA and Alabama tax
Tax takes
$9,193
19.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$42,600
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
$47,520
Kept after tax
$38,327
Worth in national money
$42,600
State rank
49
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Alabama pays this job a middle wage of $47,520, 49 of 51 states and about 20.6% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 279 among 482 occupations Alabama publishes pay for.
- Alabama is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $47,520 the take-home is $38,327; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $42,600 would nationally. The average comes to $50,680, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Alabama's $47,520 median for operating engineers and other construction equipment operators places it 49 of 51 states, about 20.6% 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 279 of 482 in Alabama places operating engineers and other construction equipment operators 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 operating engineers and other construction equipment operators in Alabama, on $47,520, is $38,327 — equivalent to $42,600 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 $50,680 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,230 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $47,520 |
| Top tenth earn over | $67,690 |
| This salary | $47,520 |
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 | $38,327 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,362 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,065 |
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 | $44,987 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,287 |
| 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 $47,520. The published range is $36,230 up to $67,690, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $38,327 take-home in Alabama comes from $47,520. 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 279 of 482.
- One number stands for prices across all of Alabama, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $42,600, the adjusted value of that $47,520 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 279 of 482 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for operating engineers and other construction equipment operators in Alabama the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $36,230 to $67,690. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $38,327, from $47,520, 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 279 of 482 locally, and the state ranks 49 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Alabama, so $42,600 — the adjusted value of that $47,520 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 279 of 482 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $50,680, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $36,230 at the tenth percentile, $67,690 at the ninetieth.
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 $42,600 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 $38,327 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 $50,680. 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 ($36,230 to $67,690) 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 $42,600 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 $38,327 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.