Birmingham, AL Salaries
Local wages where BEA prices sit below the US average (RPP 91.6) - BLS OEWS May 2025
Observed metro pay change
What changed, BLS OEWS 2024–2025
- BLS's published All Occupations median in Birmingham, AL moved from $46,330 in May 2024 to $47,770 in May 2025 (+3.1%).
- Across the 393 metros priced in both releases, the median place changed +3.1%.
- Birmingham, AL sits +0.0 pp near that median, nominal dollars, no price deflator applied.
Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria shows the widest metro-area vs national median gap in Birmingham, AL
Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria publishes $27,220 here versus $37,450 nationally (-27.3%; 2,460metro-area jobs). Next is Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary at $27,480 locally versus $36,780 nationally (-25.3%).
- Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria$27,220 in Birmingham, AL sits 27.3% below the national Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria median of $37,450 (2,460 published local jobs).
- Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary$27,480 in Birmingham, AL sits 25.3% below the national Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary median of $36,780 (2,450 published local jobs).
- Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education$28,540 in Birmingham, AL sits 25.2% below the national Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education median of $38,140 (2,070 published local jobs).
- Office Clerks, General$34,220 in Birmingham, AL sits 24.0% below the national Office Clerks, General median of $45,010 (3,310 published local jobs).
Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria and the other occupations above are descriptive OEWS endpoints for Birmingham, AL; they are not findings about taxes, employers, or worker experience.
BLS OEWS metro wage desk
MSA 13820 · Birmingham, AL $61K mean
MEAN-MID · RPP-LOW · OCC-MOST · TOP-LEAD · EMP-MIX · TREND-INLINE · PHOTO-FINISH · BOOK-FULL
- MEAN-MID #181/528
- RPP-LOW 91.6
- OCC-MOST 489 occs
- TOP-LEAD General Intern… · $334K
- EMP-MIX Lawyers
- TREND-INLINE +0.0 pp
- PHOTO-FINISH Decatur, IL
- BOOK-FULL 476 rows · May 2025
Read with Decatur, IL ($1 on published-row mean) · Salary vs. cost of living
Instrument codes from this MSA’s OEWS published-row mean, BEA RPP, occupation book, employment lead, All Occupations pay change, and nearest peer — not a moving recommendation.
Published-row mean neighbourhood around Birmingham, AL
Where Birmingham, AL already employs the upper wage tier
Lawyers and Financial Managers lead published employment inside Birmingham, AL's top-pay sample — order follows OEWS job counts, not median wage.
- 1. Lawyers 2,800 jobs · $170,230
- 2. Financial Managers 2,700 jobs · $153,930
- 3. Computer and Information Systems Managers 2,230 jobs · $140,230
- 4. Pharmacists 1,550 jobs · $138,800
- 5. Physicians, All Other 1,420 jobs · $237,040
- 6. Computer Network Architects 880 jobs · $131,140
- 7. Nurse Anesthetists 750 jobs · $175,850
- 8. Marketing Managers 660 jobs · $130,160
- 9. Human Resources Managers 620 jobs · $127,080
- 10. Architectural and Engineering Managers 600 jobs · $166,670
- 11. Managers, All Other 300 jobs · $138,360
- 12. Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Managers 290 jobs · $128,740
- 13. Administrative Services Managers 280 jobs · $129,380
- 14. Chief Executives 190 jobs · $167,080
- 15. General Internal Medicine Physicians 180 jobs · $334,100
- 16. Commercial Pilots 150 jobs · $127,280
- 17. Actuaries 130 jobs · $132,840
- 18. Optometrists 110 jobs · $162,890
Occupations Tracked
489
with wage data
Published-Row Mean
$60,639
employment-weighted, 476 complete rows
Top Salary
$334,100
General Internal Medicine Physicians
Cost of Living
91.6
8% below US avg
Top-pay occupations in Birmingham, AL, by employment
Same top-pay sample as the salary ranking, sorted by published local jobs so the title sequence follows the OEWS mix.
| # | Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lawyers | $170,230 |
| 2 | Financial Managers | $153,930 |
| 3 | Computer and Information Systems Managers | $140,230 |
| 4 | Pharmacists | $138,800 |
| 5 | Physicians, All Other | $237,040 |
| 6 | Computer Network Architects | $131,140 |
| 7 | Nurse Anesthetists | $175,850 |
| 8 | Marketing Managers | $130,160 |
| 9 | Human Resources Managers | $127,080 |
| 10 | Architectural and Engineering Managers | $166,670 |
| 11 | Managers, All Other | $138,360 |
| 12 | Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Managers | $128,740 |
| 13 | Administrative Services Managers | $129,380 |
| 14 | Chief Executives | $167,080 |
| 15 | General Internal Medicine Physicians | $334,100 |
| 16 | Commercial Pilots | $127,280 |
| 17 | Actuaries | $132,840 |
| 18 | Optometrists | $162,890 |
| 19 | Natural Sciences Managers | $139,050 |
| 20 | Power Distributors and Dispatchers | $138,260 |
| 21 | Pediatricians, General | $189,650 |
| 22 | Database Architects | $129,030 |
| 23 | Training and Development Managers | $133,980 |
| 24 | Podiatrists | $169,780 |
| 25 | Compensation and Benefits Managers | $156,710 |
Lowest Paying Jobs in Birmingham, AL
| Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|
| Bus Drivers, School | $18,260 |
| Childcare Workers | $23,070 |
| Cooks, Short Order | $23,160 |
| Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers | $23,320 |
| Amusement and Recreation Attendants | $23,760 |
| Personal Care and Service Workers, All Other | $24,130 |
| Ushers, Lobby Attendants, and Ticket Takers | $24,190 |
| Production Workers, All Other | $24,290 |
| Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop | $26,440 |
| Physical Therapist Aides | $26,530 |
Other BLS Wage Areas in AL
Other metropolitan or nonmetropolitan OEWS areas assigned to the same state. Cross-state pay and employment peers live in Nationwide similar metros below.
Nationwide metros with similar published-row mean pay or employment scale
Two OEWS peer sets outside AL. Same-state wage areas above stay geographic; these neighborhoods are cross-state nearest neighbors on employment-weighted published-row mean wage ($60,639 here) and summed published employment.
Similar mean wage
Nearest other metros by employment-weighted published-row annual mean wage.
Similar employment scale
Nearest headcount peers (floor 100,000 summed published jobs), distinct from the mean-wage column.
Peers are nearest-neighbor matches on BLS OEWS employment-weighted published-row mean wage and summed occupation employment. Employment peers exclude metros already listed in the mean-wage column so the two link sets stay distinct. Mean wage here is not a worker-level median.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Related federal data
Source data and WageDex calculations are identified in context on this page. Occupation rows use BLS OEWS May 2025. The metro benchmark is WageDex's employment-weighted mean of published occupation means; where BEA RPP is available, the price-level figure divides that benchmark by the published area parity. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.