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Alabama Paycheck Calculator (2026)

Enter your annual salary below to see your Alabama take-home pay after federal, state, FICA, and any local taxes for 2026.

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Birmingham and Bessemer occupational license taxes are not yet modeled. Subtract 1% of wages earned in those cities to approximate the post-tax figure.

Quick answer

Alabama's top rate is 5%, but the state subtracts the federal income tax you paid before it works out what you owe. At $85,000 single, that takes $9,870 straight off the state base, which is why the state bill is $3,517 and take-home is $65,111 a year.

Alabama's brackets compress so early that almost every full-time earner pays the top 5% rate on most of their income: the top band opens at just $3,000 of taxable income for a single filer. So the rate is not where the story is. Three separate reliefs come off before it is ever applied, and the largest is one most calculators skip. Alabama lets you deduct the federal income tax you pay, and at $85,000 the $9,870 federal bill comes off the state base in full, uncapped, on its own line of Form 40. Two smaller items sit beside it: a standard deduction that steps down from $3,000 but never reaches zero, settling on a floor of $2,500, and a personal exemption of $1,500. Dependents are the third piece, worth $1,000 each up to $50,000 of income and $500 here. The federal deduction beats the other two combined, and it grows as your federal bill grows. At $85,000 single, federal income tax lands at $9,870, state income tax at $3,517, FICA at $6,503, and take-home at $65,111, an effective total rate of 23.4%. Against neighboring Mississippi and its flat schedule, the yearly difference is about $209.

Alabama state tax breakdown

Single-filer state income tax brackets used by the calculator for 2026.

Taxable IncomeRate
$0 - $5002%
$500 - $3,0004%
$3,000+5%

Cities in Alabama

Local jurisdictions with employee payroll tax. Linked entries have a dedicated city page; others can be selected in the calculator below.

vs. baseline ($85,000 single filer)

A $85,000 salary in Alabama takes home approximately $3,500 less than the same salary in a no-income-tax state like Texas or Florida.

What else comes out of an Alabama paycheck?

Alabama administers no payroll program of its own, so no SDI, TDI or paid-leave line appears on the stub. The local layer is separate: three Alabama jurisdictions levy a local income tax, so the city you pick moves the total. Cross a state line to work and the answer depends on the pair: no reciprocity agreement covering Alabama is published in our data, so each state's own nonresident rules apply. All of this is withholding, not a final bill. What comes out each period follows your W-4, and the return you file settles the difference, refunding an over-collection or billing a shortfall.

What this estimate includes

This calculator computes Alabama take-home pay using 2026 federal brackets after the standard deduction, FICA contributions (Social Security at the federal rate up to the annual wage base, Medicare on all wages, plus the Additional Medicare Tax above the filing-status threshold), Alabama's state income tax schedule above, and any local income tax or state-administered payroll program (SDI, PFML, FAMLI) when you select a city or county. For states with no broad-based personal income tax, the state line is zero. It excludes employer-side payroll taxes, custom W-4 elections, supplemental-wage handling for bonuses or equity vesting, and income from sources other than W-2 wages.

Alabama paycheck FAQ

Does Alabama really let you deduct your federal income tax?
Yes, and in full. Alabama is one of only three states that still allow it, and the only one that caps neither the amount nor the share. The federal income tax you owe for the year, $9,870 at $85,000 single, comes off your Alabama income entirely. It is the federal liability you deduct, not the figure withheld on your W-2.
How much Alabama state tax do you owe on $85,000?
About $3,517 for a single filer, an effective state rate of 4.14%. That is already net of all three reliefs: the $9,870 federal tax deduction, the $2,500 standard deduction, and the $1,500 personal exemption. The marginal rate is 5%, and it reaches nearly every dollar, because the top band opens at $3,000 of taxable income.
Why does Alabama's standard deduction shrink, and how far?
Alabama publishes it as a chart, not a number. A single filer gets $3,000 through $25,999 of income and loses a fixed slice per band above that. It stops falling at $2,500 and holds there, so unlike a phase-out it never disappears. The dependent exemption drops on a cliff instead: $1,000 each up to $50,000, then $500.
How much does a 401(k) contribution save at $85,000 in Alabama?
The combined marginal rate is 27%, federal 22% plus state 5%. Alabama adds a wrinkle almost nowhere else has: a deferral cuts your federal bill, and a smaller federal bill is a smaller federal tax deduction on the Alabama return, so part of the state-side saving is handed straight back. The calculator applies both effects.
What changes for married filing jointly, head of household, or filing separately at $85,000 in Alabama?
Joint filers take home about $69,180, roughly $4,069 more than a single filer. Alabama's own numbers pull both ways: the top band opens later ($6,000 rather than $3,000) and the deduction and exemption both roughly double, but a couple owes less federal tax, so the deduction for that is smaller too. Head of Family runs the single rate schedule while claiming the larger exemption.
What is the Birmingham occupational license tax?
Birmingham and Bessemer charge a small occupational license tax on wages earned inside city limits, on residents and commuters alike. It applies to gross wages, and it is not included in the estimate above. No other Alabama city levies a separate income tax. Select Birmingham in the calculator to see the difference it makes.

Take-home at common salaries for Alabama

Dedicated salary-anchor pages with a federal-state-FICA breakdown, vs-baseline callouts, and a calculator pre-set to that salary and Alabama.

$50,000 after taxesin Alabama$75,000 after taxesin Alabama$100,000 after taxesin Alabama$150,000 after taxesin Alabama$200,000 after taxesin Alabama$250,000 after taxesin Alabama

See also

Start from the full US take-home calculatorCompare to the Florida paycheck calculatorCompare to the Tennessee paycheck calculatorMississippi take-home, for comparisonGeorgia take-home, for comparisonCompare to the South Carolina paycheck calculatorPaid hourly in Alabama? Check the per-check numberWhat a bonus pays after Alabama withholdingWhat overtime pays once Alabama withholding landsPre-tax contributions Alabama still taxesPut two states side by sidePlain-English glossary of paycheck termsHow these estimates are built, line by line

Reviewed

How This Page Is Reviewed

The Alabama paycheck page is reviewed against primary federal and state sources before each major tax-year update. Source links below are the references used to validate brackets, wage bases, and supported local taxes.

Reviewed by

PaycheckCalc Research Desk

Last reviewed

2026-07-27