Ophthalmic Medical Technicians in Alabama
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,094
after federal, FICA and Alabama tax
Tax takes
$6,586
18.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$33,449
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
$36,680
Kept after tax
$30,094
Worth in national money
$33,449
State rank
48
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for ophthalmic medical technicians is on the low side in Alabama. The middle earner gets $36,680. That is 48 of 51 states, and about 19.51% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 482 occupations Alabama publishes, ophthalmic medical technicians lands at 394. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Here is where Alabama does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $36,680 you keep $30,094, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $33,449 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $37,920, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For ophthalmic medical technicians, Alabama sits in the lower band at $36,680, ranking 48 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 19.51%. 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 394 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.
- After federal, FICA and Alabama income tax, retained pay for ophthalmic medical technicians on $36,680 is $30,094. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $33,449 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 $37,920 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Ophthalmic Medical Technicians
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $29,120 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $36,680 |
| Top tenth earn over | $47,690 |
| This salary | $36,680 |
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 | $30,094 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,652 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$877 |
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 | $34,741 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,061 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $36,680 as a midpoint for Alabama, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $29,120 and the ninetieth is $47,690 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $30,094 take-home in Alabama comes from $36,680. 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 394 of 482.
- Two cautions on $33,449, the adjusted value of that $36,680 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Alabama. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 394 of 482 locally.
- The Alabama median of $36,680 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $29,120 to $47,690. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $30,094, from $36,680, 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 394 of 482 locally, and the state ranks 48 of 51 for it.
- This $33,449 adjusted figure, worked from $36,680, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 394 of 482 in the state. The occupation ranks 394 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 $37,920 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 $29,120 at the bottom tenth to $47,690 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 $33,449.
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, $30,094 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.
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 $37,920. 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 ($29,120 to $47,690) 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 $33,449 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 $30,094 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.