Protective Service Workers, All Other in Alabama
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$65,933
after federal, FICA and Alabama tax
Tax takes
$20,417
23.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$73,283
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
$86,350
Kept after tax
$65,933
Worth in national money
$73,283
State rank
3
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Alabama pays this job a middle wage of $86,350, ranking 3 of 51 states and sitting about 102.99% above the national middle.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Alabama. It ranks 79 out of 482 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Alabama is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $86,350 the take-home is $65,933; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $73,283 would nationally. The average lands at $73,800, below the middle of the range.
- Alabama's median for protective service workers, all other is $86,350, about 102.99% above the national figure and 3 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Within Alabama, protective service workers, all other ranks 79 of 482 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Post-tax income for protective service workers, all other in Alabama, on $86,350, is $65,933 — equivalent to $73,283 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 $73,800 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Protective Service Workers, All Other
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,500 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $86,350 |
| Top tenth earn over | $104,000 |
| This salary | $86,350 |
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 | $65,933 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $69,577 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,683 |
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 | $81,170 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,325 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $86,350 as a midpoint for Alabama, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $31,500 and the ninetieth is $104,000 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $65,933 take-home in Alabama comes from $86,350. 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 79 of 482.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $73,283 uses one figure for the whole of Alabama. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 482 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 79.
- The Alabama median of $86,350 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $31,500 to $104,000. 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 $65,933, from $86,350, 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 79 of 482 locally, and the state ranks 3 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $73,283, worked from $86,350, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Alabama address, on work sitting at 79 of 482 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $73,800, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $31,500 and the top tenth $104,000 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Alabama is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $73,283 in national terms.
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 $65,933.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like 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 $73,800. 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 ($31,500) and the ninetieth ($104,000) 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 $73,283 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 $65,933 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.