Soil and Plant Scientists in Alabama
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$50,092
after federal, FICA and Alabama tax
Tax takes
$12,918
20.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$55,676
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
$63,010
Kept after tax
$50,092
Worth in national money
$55,676
State rank
40
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Alabama is among the lower-paying states for soil and plant scientists. The middle earner takes $63,010, ranking 40 of 46 states — about 20.09% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Against other work in Alabama, this sits in the middle: 161 of 482 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $63,010 you keep $50,092 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $55,676 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $76,640, since top earners drag the number up.
- Alabama ranks 40 of 46 for soil and plant scientists, with a median of $63,010 — about 20.09% 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.
- Soil and plant scientists ranks 161 of 482 occupations in Alabama by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Retained pay in Alabama is $50,092 after the full tax stack, from $63,010. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $55,676 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $76,640 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Soil and Plant Scientists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $27,270 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $63,010 |
| Top tenth earn over | $146,810 |
| This salary | $63,010 |
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 | $50,092 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $52,809 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,333 |
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 | $59,629 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,612 |
| 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 $63,010. The published range is $27,270 up to $146,810, 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 $50,092, worked from $63,010. 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 161 of 482.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $55,676 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 161.
- Reported values are medians; for soil and plant scientists in Alabama the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $27,270 to $146,810. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Alabama take-home of $50,092, on $63,010 for work ranking 161 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 161 of 482 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $55,676, worked from $63,010, 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 161 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 $76,640 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?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $27,270, the highest tenth $146,810, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $55,676.
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 $50,092.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 46 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $76,640. 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 ($27,270) and the ninetieth ($146,810) 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 $55,676 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 $50,092 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 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.