Political Science Teachers, Postsecondary in Alabama
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$60,291
after federal, FICA and Alabama tax
Tax takes
$17,569
22.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$67,013
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
$77,860
Kept after tax
$60,291
Worth in national money
$67,013
State rank
39
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Alabama. The middle earner gets $77,860. That is 39 of 45 states, and about 20.61% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Within Alabama this is well-paid work. Of 482 occupations with published figures in the state, this job ranks 100 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $77,860 you keep $60,291 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $67,013 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $85,990, since top earners drag the number up.
- For political science teachers, postsecondary, Alabama sits in the lower band at $77,860, ranking 39 of 45 and trailing the national median by about 20.61%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Ranked against every occupation Alabama publishes a median for, political science teachers, postsecondary sits 100 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.
- Retained pay in Alabama is $60,291 after the full tax stack, from $77,860. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $67,013 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $85,990 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Political Science Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $51,650 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $77,860 |
| Top tenth earn over | $139,270 |
| This salary | $77,860 |
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 | $60,291 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $63,605 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,559 |
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 | $73,151 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,154 |
| 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 $77,860. The published range is $51,650 up to $139,270, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $60,291 take-home in Alabama comes from $77,860. 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 100 of 482.
- Two cautions on $67,013, the adjusted value of that $77,860 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 100 of 482 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for political science teachers, postsecondary in Alabama the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $51,650 to $139,270. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $60,291, from $77,860, 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 100 of 482 locally, and the state ranks 39 of 45 for it.
- This $67,013 adjusted figure, worked from $77,860, 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 100 of 482 in the state. The occupation ranks 100 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 $85,990, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $51,650 and the top tenth $139,270 — 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 $67,013 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Alabama then takes its own share, leaving $60,291.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 45 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release 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 $85,990. 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 ($51,650) and the ninetieth ($139,270) 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 $67,013 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 $60,291 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.