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Birmingham, Alabama Paycheck Calculator (2026)

Enter your annual salary below to see your Birmingham, Alabama 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 Birmingham view may slightly overstate state liability for higher earners with sizable federal tax paid.

Quick answer

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

Birmingham is Alabama's largest city and the seat of Jefferson County in north-central Alabama. The city levies a 1% occupational license tax on wages earned within city limits, applied uniformly to residents and non-residents who work there. The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) is the largest single employer in the state, anchoring an academic-medical campus around UAB Hospital. Sloss Furnaces, a preserved 1880s-era blast furnace site downtown, marks the city's identity as the original Pittsburgh of the South during the late-19th-century steel boom. Vulcan Park atop Red Mountain preserves the world's largest cast iron statue, a 56-foot figure of the Roman god of the forge. Birmingham was central to the civil rights movement; the 16th Street Baptist Church, the Civil Rights Institute, and the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument preserve that history. Regions Financial Corporation headquarters downtown. Alabama runs no payroll-funded state disability insurance program. A single filer earning $85,000 owes $9,870 in federal income tax, with Alabama state tax at $4,210, FICA combined at $6,503, and the Birmingham OLT line at $850, for take-home of $63,568. Plug a different salary into the calculator above to compare Birmingham against Bessemer.

$85,000 single filer take-home comparison

Birmingham, Alabama

$63,600

Alabama (no city tax)

$64,400

Texas (no income tax)

$68,600

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

Birmingham, Alabama local tax breakdown

Local bracket schedule applied by the calculator for 2026.

Taxable IncomeRate
$0+1%

What this estimate includes

This calculator computes Birmingham, Alabama 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 Birmingham, Alabama 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.

Birmingham, Alabama paycheck FAQ

What is the federal tax bill on $85,000 single in Birmingham?
A single filer earning $85,000 owes $9,870 in federal income tax, with the top slice in the 22% bracket after the standard deduction. Federal mechanics apply uniformly across all states, so a Birmingham single filer sees the same federal line as a Bessemer or Gadsden counterpart at the same gross.
How is the Birmingham occupational license tax structured?
Birmingham's 1% occupational license tax applies to wages earned within city limits, withheld at the source by employers. The rate is uniform between residents and non-residents who work in the city. Self-employed workers earning income within Birmingham file directly with the city. The OLT is administered by Birmingham's Revenue Division rather than the Alabama Department of Revenue.
Does Alabama's federal-tax deductibility affect the Birmingham OLT?
No. Alabama's federal-tax deduction reduces only the Alabama state taxable income base, not the Birmingham OLT. The 1% city rate runs on wages earned in the city directly, separate from the state return. The federal deduction softens the state line for higher earners with sizable federal liability; the city line stays unchanged.
How much does a 401(k) contribution save at $85,000 in Birmingham?
Traditional 401(k) contributions cut federal and Alabama tax at the 27% combined marginal rate. The Birmingham OLT, computed on gross wages under city ordinance, generally does not respond to pre-tax deferrals. So pre-tax savings hit the federal and state lines, while the 1% city tax stays flat against the underlying paycheck.
What changes for married filing jointly, head of household, or filing separately at $85,000 in Birmingham?
A married-filing-jointly profile at $85,000 keeps $67,638, $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, providing additional state-side relief. The Birmingham OLT applies per worker across all four filing statuses. Head of Household clears about $66,490, around $2,922 more than Single (Alabama routes HoH through Single per AL DOR Form 40), and combined MFS take-home lands about $4,070 less than MFJ.
How does Birmingham compare to Bessemer?
Birmingham and Bessemer levy matching 1% occupational license rates, so the two cities produce identical city-tax outcomes for residents on the same gross. Both sit in Jefferson County under the same Alabama state schedule. Cross-city workers (resident in one, employed in the other) face withholding at the workplace, with no double-stacking at the county level.

See also

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

Reviewed

How This Page Is Reviewed

The Birmingham, Alabama 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