Tax Preparers in Alabama
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$27,518
after federal, FICA and Alabama tax
Tax takes
$5,762
17.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$30,586
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
$33,280
Kept after tax
$27,518
Worth in national money
$30,586
State rank
48
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Alabama pays tax preparers a middle wage of $33,280, 48 of 48 states and about 39.4% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Alabama this is lower-paid work. Of 482 occupations the state publishes figures for, tax preparers ranks 428. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Alabama is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $33,280 the take-home is $27,518; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $30,586 would nationally. The average comes to $34,070, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Alabama's $33,280 median for tax preparers places it 48 of 48 states, about 39.4% 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.
- Against every occupation Alabama reports, tax preparers ranks 428 of 482, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Post-tax income for tax preparers in Alabama, on $33,280, is $27,518 — equivalent to $30,586 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 $34,070 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Tax Preparers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $23,290 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $33,280 |
| Top tenth earn over | $48,020 |
| This salary | $33,280 |
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 | $27,518 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $28,920 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$825 |
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 | $31,535 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$998 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $33,280 as a midpoint for Alabama, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $23,290 and the ninetieth is $48,020 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Alabama the take-home figure of $27,518, from $33,280, 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 428 of 482 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $30,586, the adjusted value of that $33,280 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 428 of 482 locally.
- The Alabama median of $33,280 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $23,290 to $48,020. 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 $27,518 from $33,280. 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 428 of 482 locally.
- This $30,586 adjusted figure, worked from $33,280, 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 428 of 482 in the state. The occupation ranks 428 of 482 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $23,290 at the bottom tenth to $48,020 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Alabama sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $30,586 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Alabama adds its own income tax on top — which is why $27,518 of this wage survives to your account.
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 48 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($23,290) and the ninetieth ($48,020) 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 $30,586 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 $27,518 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.