Sewing Machine Operators in Alabama
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$25,664
after federal, FICA and Alabama tax
Tax takes
$5,166
16.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$28,525
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
$30,830
Kept after tax
$25,664
Worth in national money
$28,525
State rank
47
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for sewing machine operators is on the low side in Alabama. The middle earner gets $30,830. That is 47 of 50 states, and about 15.93% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 482 occupations Alabama publishes, sewing machine operators lands at 438. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Alabama is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $30,830 the take-home is $25,664; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $28,525 would nationally. The average comes to $31,730, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For sewing machine operators, Alabama sits in the lower band at $30,830, ranking 47 of 50 and trailing the national median by about 15.93%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Alabama, this work ranks 438 of 482 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Post-tax income for sewing machine operators in Alabama, on $30,830, is $25,664 — equivalent to $28,525 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 $31,730 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Sewing Machine Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $23,830 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $30,830 |
| Top tenth earn over | $41,330 |
| This salary | $30,830 |
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 | $25,664 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $26,952 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$790 |
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 | $29,227 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$955 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $30,830 as a midpoint for Alabama, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $23,830 and the ninetieth is $41,330 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Alabama's $25,664, worked from $30,830. 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 438 of 482.
- Two cautions on $28,525, the adjusted value of that $30,830 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 438 of 482 locally.
- The Alabama median of $30,830 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $23,830 to $41,330. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Alabama take-home of $25,664, on $30,830 for work ranking 438 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 438 of 482 in the state.
- This $28,525 adjusted figure, worked from $30,830, 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 438 of 482 in the state. The occupation ranks 438 of 482 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $23,830 at the bottom tenth to $41,330 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 $28,525 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 $25,664.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 50 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($23,830 to $41,330) 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 $28,525 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 $25,664 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.