Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive in Alabama
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$33,854
after federal, FICA and Alabama tax
Tax takes
$7,776
18.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$37,628
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
$41,630
Kept after tax
$33,854
Worth in national money
$37,628
State rank
45
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Alabama pays this job a middle wage of $41,630, 45 of 51 states and about 12.43% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 482 occupations Alabama reports figures for, this is number 336.
- Alabama is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $41,630 the take-home is $33,854; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $37,628 would nationally. The average comes to $43,060, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Alabama's $41,630 median for secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive places it 45 of 51 states, about 12.43% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- In Alabama's occupational distribution, secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive sits at 336 of 482 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Post-tax income for secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive in Alabama, on $41,630, is $33,854 — equivalent to $37,628 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 $43,060 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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: Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $29,170 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $41,630 |
| Top tenth earn over | $59,090 |
| This salary | $41,630 |
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 | $33,854 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $35,630 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$963 |
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 | $39,420 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,164 |
| 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 $41,630. The published range is $29,170 up to $59,090, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Alabama's $33,854, worked from $41,630. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 336 of 482.
- Two cautions on $37,628, the adjusted value of that $41,630 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 336 of 482 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive in Alabama the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $29,170 to $59,090. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Alabama take-home of $33,854, on $41,630 for work ranking 336 of 482 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 336 of 482 in the state.
- This $37,628 adjusted figure, worked from $41,630, 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 336 of 482 in the state. The occupation ranks 336 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 $43,060, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $29,170 at the bottom tenth to $59,090 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $37,628 in national terms.
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, $33,854 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 $43,060. 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 ($29,170 to $59,090) 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 $37,628 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 $33,854 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.