Teaching Assistants, Postsecondary in Alabama
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$19,314
after federal, FICA and Alabama tax
Tax takes
$3,286
14.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$21,467
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
$22,600
Kept after tax
$19,314
Worth in national money
$21,467
State rank
45
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Alabama is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $22,600, ranking 45 of 45 states — about 47.33% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Measured against other jobs in Alabama, this one sits low: 478 of 482 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $22,600 you keep $19,314 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $21,467 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $25,850, since top earners drag the number up.
- Alabama ranks 45 of 45 for teaching assistants, postsecondary, with a median of $22,600 — about 47.33% 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.
- Teaching assistants, postsecondary occupies position 478 of 482 in Alabama's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Retained pay in Alabama is $19,314 after the full tax stack, from $22,600. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $21,467 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $25,850 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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: Teaching Assistants, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $17,730 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $22,600 |
| Top tenth earn over | $37,510 |
| This salary | $22,600 |
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 | $19,314 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $20,221 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$658 |
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 | $21,498 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$776 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of teaching assistants, postsecondary in Alabama earn under $22,600 and half over. The published range runs $17,730 at the tenth percentile to $37,510 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Alabama's $19,314, worked from $22,600. 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 478 of 482.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $21,467 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 478.
- Figures are distribution medians for teaching assistants, postsecondary in Alabama, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $17,730 to $37,510; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- The Alabama take-home of $19,314, on $22,600 for work ranking 478 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 478 of 482 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $21,467, worked from $22,600, 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 478 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 $25,850 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 $17,730, the highest tenth $37,510, 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 $21,467.
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, $19,314 remains.
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 45 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $25,850. 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 ($17,730) and the ninetieth ($37,510) 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 $21,467 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 $19,314 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.