School Psychologists in Alabama
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$58,431
after federal, FICA and Alabama tax
Tax takes
$16,629
22.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$64,945
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
$75,060
Kept after tax
$58,431
Worth in national money
$64,945
State rank
40
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Alabama is among the lower-paying states for school psychologists. The middle earner takes $75,060, ranking 40 of 51 states — about 21.8% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Alabama. It ranks 110 out of 482 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Here is where Alabama does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $75,060 you keep $58,431, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $64,945 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $78,560, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Alabama ranks 40 of 51 for school psychologists, with a median of $75,060 — about 21.8% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Within Alabama, school psychologists ranks 110 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.
- After federal, FICA and Alabama income tax, retained pay for school psychologists on $75,060 is $58,431. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $64,945 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 $78,560 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: School Psychologists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $68,710 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $75,060 |
| Top tenth earn over | $104,720 |
| This salary | $75,060 |
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 | $58,431 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $61,635 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,518 |
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 | $70,506 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,097 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $75,060 as a midpoint for Alabama, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $68,710 and the ninetieth is $104,720 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $58,431 take-home in Alabama comes from $75,060. 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 110 of 482.
- One number stands for prices across all of Alabama, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $64,945, the adjusted value of that $75,060 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 110 of 482 in the state.
- The Alabama median of $75,060 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $68,710 to $104,720. 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 $58,431, from $75,060, 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 110 of 482 locally, and the state ranks 40 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Alabama, so $64,945 — the adjusted value of that $75,060 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 110 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 $78,560, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $68,710 and the top tenth $104,720, so most people doing this work in Alabama sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $64,945.
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, $58,431 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 $78,560. 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 ($68,710 to $104,720) 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 $64,945 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 $58,431 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.