Jobs and pay in Alabama

The highest-paying occupations in Alabama

Sorted by median annual wage — the midpoint of what people in the occupation are paid in this state, not what a newcomer earns. Occupations BLS did not release a wage for are absent rather than shown as zero.

3 further occupations are paid more than every figure below, but BLS publishes them only as $239,200 or more, its reporting cap: oral and maxillofacial surgeons, emergency medicine physicians, surgeons, all other. They cannot be ranked against each other, so they are named here rather than listed as identical rows.

1. Cardiologists$519,480
2. Dermatologists$394,550
3. Anesthesiologists$392,350
4. Orthopedic surgeons, except pediatric$324,570
5. General internal medicine physicians$311,180
6. Ophthalmologists, except pediatric$305,200
7. Physicians, all other$272,610
8. Orthodontists$253,670
9. Obstetricians and gynecologists$210,380
10. Pediatricians, general$209,490
11. Nurse anesthetists$190,300
12. Chief executives$166,420
13. Architectural and engineering managers$162,350
14. Podiatrists$161,820
15. Engineers, all other$152,550
16. Optometrists$145,090
17. Financial managers$140,500
18. Physicists$139,330
19. Computer and information systems managers$138,670
20. Computer hardware engineers$136,990
21. Airline pilots, copilots, and flight engineers$136,990
22. Actuaries$136,950
23. Psychologists, all other$136,070
24. Managers, all other$135,890
25. Physical scientists, all other$135,350

Where the jobs actually are in Alabama

The same list sorted by how many people are employed in each occupation, which is a different question from what it pays and usually a more useful one. High pay in an occupation employing 400 people statewide is a narrower opportunity than it looks.

1. Retail salespersons60,880 employed
2. Registered nurses54,340 employed
3. Miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators53,280 employed
4. Stockers and order fillers46,580 employed
5. Cashiers46,420 employed
6. Secretaries and administrative assistants, except legal, medical, and executive45,050 employed
7. Fast food and counter workers41,460 employed
8. Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers36,650 employed
9. Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand36,140 employed
10. Customer service representatives33,290 employed
11. General and operations managers30,170 employed
12. Waiters and waitresses28,760 employed
13. Cooks, fast food26,740 employed
14. Nursing assistants25,250 employed
15. Janitors and cleaners, except maids and housekeeping cleaners25,110 employed
16. First-line supervisors of retail sales workers25,020 employed
17. Accountants and auditors24,300 employed
18. Elementary school teachers, except special education22,030 employed
19. Home health and personal care aides20,930 employed
20. First-line supervisors of production and operating workers20,670 employed
21. Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, except technical and scientific products20,470 employed
22. First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers20,140 employed
23. Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks19,890 employed
24. First-line supervisors of food preparation and serving workers19,180 employed
25. Construction laborers18,400 employed

The best-paid Alabama work that typically needs no bachelor's degree

Occupations BLS reports as typically entered with an associate's degree, a postsecondary certificate, some college, a high-school diploma, or no formal credential — sorted by what they pay here. Typical is not a requirement, individual employers set their own, and many of these carry state licensing that the national figure does not capture.

1. Nuclear power reactor operators$119,000 · High school diploma or equivalent
2. Transportation, storage, and distribution managers$118,320 · High school diploma or equivalent
3. Air traffic controllers$114,960 · Associate's degree
4. Power distributors and dispatchers$114,570 · High school diploma or equivalent
5. Nuclear technicians$110,240 · Associate's degree
6. Transportation inspectors$108,140 · High school diploma or equivalent
7. Power plant operators$107,080 · High school diploma or equivalent
8. Elevator and escalator installers and repairers$103,700 · High school diploma or equivalent
9. Commercial pilots$101,420 · Postsecondary nondegree award
10. Media and communication equipment workers, all other$96,100 · High school diploma or equivalent
11. Ship engineers$96,030 · Postsecondary nondegree award
12. Avionics technicians$95,920 · Postsecondary nondegree award
13. Postmasters and mail superintendents$95,740 · High school diploma or equivalent
14. Electrical and electronics repairers, powerhouse, substation, and relay$95,150 · Postsecondary nondegree award
15. Electrical power-line installers and repairers$92,030 · High school diploma or equivalent
16. Chemical plant and system operators$91,610 · High school diploma or equivalent
17. Radiation therapists$87,330 · Associate's degree
18. Protective service workers, all other$86,350 · High school diploma or equivalent
19. Nuclear medicine technologists$82,630 · Associate's degree
20. Real estate brokers$82,630 · High school diploma or equivalent
21. Aircraft mechanics and service technicians$82,260 · Postsecondary nondegree award
22. Chemical equipment operators and tenders$80,330 · High school diploma or equivalent
23. First-line supervisors of correctional officers$80,230 · High school diploma or equivalent
24. Claims adjusters, examiners, and investigators$79,710 · High school diploma or equivalent
25. Magnetic resonance imaging technologists$78,890 · Associate's degree

A certificate is a different credential from a degree, not a lesser one. CampusPin publishes the national picture of pay by entry education and which fields are actually awarded as certificates rather than degrees.

What Alabama does more of than the rest of the country

Location quotient: this occupation's share of Alabama employment divided by its share of U.S. employment. 2.0 means twice as concentrated here as nationally. It describes where the work IS — not what it pays, and not how easy it is to be hired. Limited to occupations employing at least 500 people in the state, so a tiny base cannot manufacture a large ratio.

Logging equipment operators lead, much more concentrated here than nationally.

Other states