Rehabilitation Counselors in Alabama
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$43,279
after federal, FICA and Alabama tax
Tax takes
$10,761
19.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$48,104
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
$54,040
Kept after tax
$43,279
Worth in national money
$48,104
State rank
10
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for rehabilitation counselors is strong here. Alabama's middle earner gets $54,040, putting the state 10 of 51 — about 15.35% ahead of the national figure.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Rehabilitation counselors ranks 222 among 482 occupations Alabama publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $54,040 you keep $43,279 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $48,104 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $57,150, since top earners drag the number up.
- For rehabilitation counselors, Alabama sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $54,040, ranking 10 of 51 and running about 15.35% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Position 222 of 482 in Alabama places rehabilitation counselors 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.
- Retained pay in Alabama is $43,279 after the full tax stack, from $54,040. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $48,104 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $57,150 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Rehabilitation Counselors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $35,230 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $54,040 |
| Top tenth earn over | $80,110 |
| This salary | $54,040 |
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 | $43,279 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $45,601 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,177 |
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 | $51,150 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,424 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $54,040 as a midpoint for Alabama, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $35,230 and the ninetieth is $80,110 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Alabama the take-home figure of $43,279, from $54,040, 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 222 of 482 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $48,104 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 222.
- The Alabama median of $54,040 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $35,230 to $80,110. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Alabama is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $43,279 from $54,040. 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 222 of 482 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $48,104, worked from $54,040, 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 222 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 $57,150 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $35,230 and the top tenth $80,110 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $48,104.
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, $43,279 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 $57,150. 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 ($35,230) and the ninetieth ($80,110) 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 $48,104 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 $43,279 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.