Tuscaloosa, AL Salaries
Local wages where BEA prices sit below the US average (RPP 87.7) - BLS OEWS May 2025
Observed metro pay change
What changed, BLS OEWS 2024–2025
- BLS's published All Occupations median in Tuscaloosa, AL moved from $45,440 in May 2024 to $45,220 in May 2025 (-0.5%).
- Across the 393 metros priced in both releases, the median place changed +3.1%.
- Tuscaloosa, AL sits -3.6 pp behind that median, nominal dollars, no price deflator applied.
Registered Nurses shows the widest metro-area vs national median gap in Tuscaloosa, AL
Registered Nurses publishes $75,250 here versus $97,550 nationally (-22.9%; 2,590metro-area jobs). Next is Fast Food and Counter Workers at $24,630 locally versus $31,200 nationally (-21.1%).
- Registered Nurses$75,250 in Tuscaloosa, AL sits 22.9% below the national Registered Nurses median of $97,550 (2,590 published local jobs).
- Fast Food and Counter Workers$24,630 in Tuscaloosa, AL sits 21.1% below the national Fast Food and Counter Workers median of $31,200 (2,360 published local jobs).
- Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators$53,050 in Tuscaloosa, AL sits 18.8% above the national Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators median of $44,650 (7,320 published local jobs).
- Retail Salespersons$29,630 in Tuscaloosa, AL sits 16.3% below the national Retail Salespersons median of $35,410 (2,990 published local jobs).
Registered Nurses and the other occupations above are descriptive OEWS endpoints for Tuscaloosa, AL; they are not findings about taxes, employers, or worker experience.
BLS OEWS metro wage desk
MSA 46220 · Tuscaloosa, AL $53K mean
MEAN-TRACE · RPP-QUIET · OCC-MID · TOP-LEAD · EMP-MIX · TREND-BEHIND · PHOTO-FINISH · BOOK-MOST
- MEAN-TRACE #416/528
- RPP-QUIET 87.7
- OCC-MID 294 occs
- TOP-LEAD Physicians, Al… · $244K
- EMP-MIX General and…
- TREND-BEHIND -3.6 pp
- PHOTO-FINISH Weirton-Steubenv…
- BOOK-MOST 291 rows · May 2025
Read with Weirton-Steubenville, WV-OH (+$13 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 Tuscaloosa, AL
Where Tuscaloosa, AL already employs the upper wage tier
General and Operations Managers and Industrial Engineers lead published employment inside Tuscaloosa, AL's top-pay sample — order follows OEWS job counts, not median wage.
- 1. General and Operations Managers 1,210 jobs · $101,210
- 2. Industrial Engineers 700 jobs · $104,840
- 3. Pharmacists 320 jobs · $132,430
- 4. Nurse Practitioners 300 jobs · $110,460
- 5. Software Developers 290 jobs · $104,870
- 6. Financial Managers 240 jobs · $130,000
- 7. Industrial Production Managers 240 jobs · $123,390
- 8. Computer and Information Systems Managers 210 jobs · $126,270
- 9. Lawyers 190 jobs · $114,100
- 10. Physicians, All Other 170 jobs · $243,530
- 11. Sales Managers 120 jobs · $108,750
- 12. Physical Therapists 120 jobs · $106,450
- 13. Architectural and Engineering Managers 100 jobs · $140,070
- 14. Nurse Anesthetists 90 jobs · $195,660
- 15. Mechanical Engineers 90 jobs · $110,520
- 16. Computer Network Architects 80 jobs · $124,860
- 17. Human Resources Managers 80 jobs · $105,020
- 18. Electrical Engineers 70 jobs · $114,980
Occupations Tracked
294
with wage data
Published-Row Mean
$53,084
employment-weighted, 291 complete rows
Top Salary
$243,530
Physicians, All Other
Cost of Living
87.7
12% below US avg
Top-pay occupations in Tuscaloosa, 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 | General and Operations Managers | $101,210 |
| 2 | Industrial Engineers | $104,840 |
| 3 | Pharmacists | $132,430 |
| 4 | Nurse Practitioners | $110,460 |
| 5 | Software Developers | $104,870 |
| 6 | Financial Managers | $130,000 |
| 7 | Industrial Production Managers | $123,390 |
| 8 | Computer and Information Systems Managers | $126,270 |
| 9 | Lawyers | $114,100 |
| 10 | Physicians, All Other | $243,530 |
| 11 | Sales Managers | $108,750 |
| 12 | Physical Therapists | $106,450 |
| 13 | Architectural and Engineering Managers | $140,070 |
| 14 | Nurse Anesthetists | $195,660 |
| 15 | Mechanical Engineers | $110,520 |
| 16 | Computer Network Architects | $124,860 |
| 17 | Human Resources Managers | $105,020 |
| 18 | Electrical Engineers | $114,980 |
| 19 | Electronics Engineers, Except Computer | $116,660 |
| 20 | Computer Occupations, All Other | $115,750 |
| 21 | Purchasing Managers | $114,960 |
| 22 | Facilities Managers | $129,880 |
| 23 | Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Managers | $125,100 |
| 24 | Chief Executives | $164,810 |
| 25 | Physician Assistants | $101,120 |
Lowest Paying Jobs in Tuscaloosa, AL
| Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|
| Bus Drivers, School | $17,130 |
| Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary | $21,690 |
| Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers | $22,030 |
| Childcare Workers | $22,040 |
| Cooks, Short Order | $22,110 |
| Amusement and Recreation Attendants | $22,460 |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | $24,630 |
| Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop | $24,640 |
| Substitute Teachers, Short-Term | $25,340 |
| Residential Advisors | $26,170 |
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 ($53,084 here) and summed published employment.
Similar mean wage
Nearest other metros by employment-weighted published-row annual mean wage.
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 Tuscaloosa, AL wage reading? ▼
What is the highest paying job in Tuscaloosa, AL? ▼
What jobs pay the least in Tuscaloosa, AL? ▼
Which federal tables feed Tuscaloosa, AL's wage and price figures? ▼
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.