Alabama · BLS May 2025

How much does a teaching assistant make in Alabama?

Also called teacher aide, paraprofessional. BLS records this occupation as Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary” (SOC 25-9045).

A teaching assistant in Alabama earns a median of $24,070 a year, about $1,711 a month after federal, state and FICA tax. Figure from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey. The survey counted 10,140 of these jobs in Alabama in May 2025.

Median pay · Alabama

$24,070A year. BLS publishes no hourly wage for this occupation.
Take-home a month$1,711After federal, state and FICA tax at 14.7%
Worth at national prices$27,099Prices here sit at 88.8 against 100
Against the nation34.6% belowNational median $36,780
What teaching assistants earn in Alabama, May 2025
PercentileAnnualHourly
10th percentile1 in 10 earn less$21,440Not published
25th percentile$22,550Not published
MedianHalf earn more, half less$24,070Not published
75th percentile$27,820Not published
90th percentile1 in 10 earn more$30,590Not published
MeanAll pay divided by all jobs$26,090Not published

Wage survey · BLS May 2025

How we got this
  1. Median wage in AlabamaBLS OEWS May 2025. Half of the people in this job were paid more than this, half less.$24,070
  2. Take-home after federal, state and FICA tax$1,711 a month at an effective rate of 14.7%.$20,533 a year
  3. Worth at national average pricesPrices in Alabama sit at 88.8 against a national 100 (BEA, 2024).$27,099
  4. Against the national medianThe national median is $36,780.34.6% below
  5. Jobs countedA concentration of 0.53 against the nation's 1.00.10,140
What we assumed
  • Wages are BLS OEWS survey estimates for May 2025, not job postings or offers.
  • OEWS surveys wage and salary workers. The self-employed and business owners are outside it.
  • Take-home assumes one 2026 filer, filing single, taking the standard deduction, with no dependents, pre-tax retirement contributions or local income tax.
  • BLS publishes only an annual wage for this occupation, because a standard 2,080-hour year would misdescribe it.
  • Regional price parities compare price levels between places in one year. They are not inflation, and they do not adjust for what a household actually buys.
Technical details

Method occupation-wage-v1Data bls-oews-2025-05-v1, us-tax-2026-v1, bea-rpp-2024-v1, census-acs5-2024-v1

What lands in the bank

Tax year 2026 · Interactive

Estimated on the median salary of $24,070 in Alabama, for a single filer taking the standard deduction in 2026. Explore other wage levels and filing statuses below.

$24,070
$20,000$35,000
Filing status:
Gross salary breakdown$24,070
Net 85%
Fed 3%
AL 4%
FICA 8%
Annual take-home$20,533After all taxes
Monthly deposit$1,711Estimated per month
Biweekly paycheck$790Every 2 weeks (26/yr)
Effective tax rate14.7%Total tax burden
Federal income tax$797 / yr
Alabama state income tax$899 / yr
FICA (Social Security & Medicare)$1,841 / yr

Run the numbers on your own pay

Same U.S. tax tables as the rest of the site. Change the salary, state, or filing status.

What $24,070 is worth in Alabama

Prices in Alabama sit at 88.8 against a national average of 100, so $24,070 earned here buys what $27,099 buys at national average prices.

  • Rents. 61.8 against 100, the component that moves most between states.
  • Against local households. The median household in Alabama takes in $63,999, so this occupation's median is 0.38 times that, on one income.
  • How common the job is here. 47% less concentrated in Alabama than in the country as a whole.

Compare two places properly →

Reading the numbers

What stands out for teaching assistants in Alabama

Alabama ranks 51 of 51 states by median pay for teaching assistants, among the lowest-paying in the country.

Rents in Alabama index at 61.8 (U.S. = 100) while prices overall index at 88.8, a gap of -27 pts. For a renter, housing moves the local cost of living more than anything else.

Prices in Alabama index at 88.8 (U.S. = 100), so the $24,070 median buys roughly what $27,099 would at national prices, $3,029 more.

Pay is tightly grouped: the 90th percentile ($30,590) is only 1.4 times the 10th ($21,440), so most teaching assistants here earn within a narrow band.

Common questions

Teaching Assistant pay in Alabama, answered

How much does a teaching assistant make in Alabama?

The median wage for teaching assistants in Alabama is $24,070 a year.

Half earn more than that and half earn less. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational wage survey for May 2025.

What is the average teaching assistant salary in Alabama?

BLS’s mean (average) wage for teaching assistants in Alabama is $26,090 a year. The median is $24,070.

The mean sits higher when a smaller group of high earners pulls the average up. For a typical paycheck, the median is the better middle.

What is the starting salary for a teaching assistant in Alabama?

BLS does not publish starting pay. The closest figure it does publish is the low end of the range: in Alabama, the lowest-paid 10% of teaching assistants earn under $21,440 a year and a quarter earn under $22,550.

New hires often start somewhere in that band, but the May 2025 survey does not record experience, so read it as a floor to compare an offer against rather than a typical first salary.

What is the salary range for a teaching assistant in Alabama?

The overall salary range for teaching assistants in Alabama spans from $21,440 for the bottom 10% to $30,590 for top earners.

The middle 50% earn between $22,550 and $27,820 a year, with the overall median at $24,070.

What is the take-home pay for a teaching assistant in Alabama?

On the median wage of $24,070, a single filer taking the 2026 standard deduction keeps an estimated $20,533 a year, or roughly $1,711 a month.

That is after federal, state and FICA tax, an effective rate of 14.7%.

Alabama takes $899 of it in state income tax.

How much does a teaching assistant make a month in Alabama?

On the median annual salary of $24,070, estimated take-home pay is roughly $1,711 a month after federal, state, and FICA taxes.

For workers paid on a standard biweekly schedule (26 pay periods per year), each paycheck is approximately $790 net.

Do teaching assistants earn more in Alabama than in the rest of the country?

No. The median in Alabama is 34.6% below the national median of $36,780.

Nominal pay is only half the comparison: prices in Alabama sit at 88.8 against a national 100, so the gap in what the money buys is different from the gap in the salary.

Is $24,070 a good salary in Alabama?

It is 0.38 times the median household income of $63,999. A household often has more than one earner, so a single salary at this level goes further than the ratio alone suggests.

Prices in Alabama run at 88.8 against a national average of 100, with rents at 61.8, so $24,070 here buys about what $27,099 buys at national average prices.

What do the highest-paid teaching assistants earn in Alabama?

The top tenth earn $30,590 a year or more. The 10th-percentile wage is $21,440.

Experience, specialty, employer and the part of Alabama someone works in all move a wage inside that range; the survey reports the spread, not the reason for it.

How many teaching assistants are there in Alabama?

The survey counted 10,140 of these jobs in Alabama for May 2025.

That makes the occupation 47% less concentrated here than in the country as a whole. It counts wage and salary jobs, so the self-employed are outside it.

Sources

Where this data comes from

Notice a discrepancy with official data? Report an issue to hello@costanswer.com ↗