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.
Based on wage level, year-over-year wage growth, and regional-price-parity-adjusted purchasing power from BLS and BEA sources, not job availability, industry mix, or day-to-day livability.
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
What does the lower price level do to Birmingham, AL wage reading? ▼
What is the highest paying job in Birmingham, AL? ▼
What jobs pay the least in Birmingham, AL? ▼
Which federal tables feed Birmingham, AL's wage and price figures? ▼
Related federal data
What to do with this data
How to use Birmingham, AL wage figures in a real decision
- General Internal Medicine Physicians leads published medians in Birmingham, AL at $334,100/year; open the occupation for percentile bands and state rows. General Internal Medicine Physicians
- The employment-weighted published-row mean of $60,639 adjusts to about $66,168 on a national-price basis at BEA RPP 91.6. Salary vs cost of living
- Compare this metropolitan statistical area against the statewide occupation table for AL before treating one geography as the other. State wage page
BLS OEWS estimates reflect the May 2025 reference period; small occupation-area cells can be suppressed, and figures are not employer offers.
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.