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Bessemer Paycheck Calculator (2026)

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

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Alabama's federal-tax-deductibility on the state return is not yet wired into the calculator engine, so the Alabama state line in this Bessemer view may slightly overstate state liability for higher earners with sizable federal tax paid.

Quick answer

Effectively yes. Bessemer is a Jefferson County city southwest of Birmingham and levies a 1% occupational license tax on wages earned within city limits, applied uniformly to residents and non-residents. At $85,000 single, take-home is $63,568 after federal tax, FICA, Alabama's progressive state line, and the Bessemer OLT.

Bessemer sits roughly 15 miles southwest of downtown Birmingham in Jefferson County's western half, the area locally called the Bessemer Cutoff because Jefferson County is split into two judicial divisions: Birmingham and Bessemer. The city levies a 1% occupational license tax on wages earned within city limits, matching Birmingham's rate. Henry Bessemer's namesake steel process gave the city its name when the U.S. Steel Bessemer Works opened in the late 19th century as part of the broader Birmingham-area integrated steel cluster; the works closed decades ago, but the city's industrial identity persists. Amazon BHM1, the fulfillment center on the western edge of the city, drew national attention during the 2020-2022 RWDSU union drive, the largest US Amazon-warehouse organizing effort to date. Several smaller automotive-supplier plants serve the broader Birmingham metro from Bessemer industrial parks. AL does not operate a state disability insurance program. $85,000 single produces $9,870 in federal income tax, with Alabama state tax at $4,210, FICA combined at $6,503, and the Bessemer OLT line at $850, for take-home of $63,568. Switch the calculator above between filing statuses to see how the Bessemer state-and-OLT stack scales.

$85,000 single filer take-home comparison

Bessemer

$63,600

Alabama (no city tax)

$64,400

Texas (no income tax)

$68,600

Bessemer take-home is -$800 vs the state-only figure and -$5,100 vs the no-income-tax baseline.

Bessemer local tax breakdown

Local bracket schedule applied by the calculator for 2026.

Taxable IncomeRate
$0+1%

What this estimate includes

This calculator computes Bessemer take-home pay using 2026 federal brackets after the standard deduction, FICA contributions (Social Security 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, the Bessemer local income tax. 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. Per-city resident and non-resident rules are described in the prose above where they differ.

Bessemer paycheck FAQ

What is the federal tax bill on $85,000 single in Bessemer?
$85,000 single produces $9,870 in federal income tax, with the top slice in the 22% bracket after the standard deduction. Federal computation works the same in every state, so a Bessemer single filer sees the same federal line as a Birmingham or Gadsden counterpart at the same gross.
Is the Bessemer occupational tax the same as Birmingham's?
Yes. Both cities levy matching 1% occupational license rates. The two are adjacent municipalities in Jefferson County, and the matching rates produce identical city-tax outcomes for residents of either jurisdiction on the same gross. Each city collects its own OLT through its own revenue office, with no shared county collection.
If I live in Bessemer but work in Birmingham, what applies?
Birmingham's 1% OLT withholds at the work location on Birmingham-earned wages. The Bessemer OLT does not stack on top because the wages are earned in Birmingham, not Bessemer. The total city-level tax on those wages stays at the 1% Birmingham rate. The reverse case (Birmingham resident working in Bessemer) works the same way: Bessemer's OLT applies, Birmingham's does not.
How much does a 401(k) contribution save at $85,000 in Bessemer?
Both federal and Alabama taxable income respond to traditional 401(k) and HSA deferrals at the 27% combined marginal. The Bessemer OLT applies to gross wages by city ordinance and typically does not shrink with pre-tax deferrals. So the 1% city line stays steady while the federal and Alabama lines drop with each deferred dollar.
What changes for married filing jointly, head of household, or filing separately at $85,000 in Bessemer?
MFJ at this gross lifts take-home to $67,638, a delta of $4,070 more the single estimate. Wider federal MFJ brackets and the doubled federal standard deduction drive most of the change. Alabama's MFJ brackets are slightly wider than single, and the federal-tax deduction also doubles. The Bessemer 1% OLT applies per worker across all four filing statuses. Head of Household lifts take-home to about $66,490, around $2,922 more than Single, and combined MFS take-home lands about $4,070 less than MFJ.
How does Bessemer compare to Gadsden?
Gadsden's OLT runs above Bessemer's 1%, since Etowah County's largest city sets a higher municipal rate than Jefferson County cities. Both Alabama cities share state mechanics (progressive brackets, federal-tax deductibility on the state return), so the gap shows up purely in the city line. Federal tax and FICA are identical between the two cities.

See also

Run the full Alabama paycheck calculatorCompare to Birmingham, Alabama paycheck calculatorCompare to Gadsden paycheck calculatorBrowse all city paycheck calculatorsBrowse paycheck calculators by statePaycheck and tax glossaryHow we calculate paycheck taxes

Reviewed

How This Page Is Reviewed

The Bessemer paycheck page is reviewed against primary federal, state, and city 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

2026-06-25