Accountant salary in Birmingham, AL

Pay in Birmingham against Alabama and the US

Accountants at the 90th percentile earn $128,530, 2.5 times the 10th percentile; the US ratio is 2.6. The middle half of accountants in Birmingham earns $63,200–$98,350. The mean ($85,110) is 8% over the median, so a group of high earners pulls the average up; price a typical hire from the median. From the 25th to the 75th percentile, the local range is $35,150 wide, between the figure for Alabama ($35,030) and the US figure ($42,790).

What to budget for an accountant here

The step from the 25th percentile to the median is $15,460 a year; from the median to the 75th it is $19,690, or about $25,406 once benefits are added. These percentiles describe what people in the job earn locally, not experience levels, so place your offer by the tasks and seniority you need.

For scale, the US median of $83,680 falls between the median and the 75th percentile in Birmingham, and the Alabama statewide median of $74,880 falls between the 25th percentile and the median.

What a hire really costs in Birmingham

At the $78,660 median, a local hire costs about $101,497 a year: benefits and payroll taxes other than paid leave are 22.5% of total compensation in US private industry², about $22,837 here. Recruiting, equipment and office space come on top. Benefit levels vary by employer, so treat this as an estimate.

We place executive assistants, customer support and e-commerce staff today; for accountants we answer within one business day whether we can help. Enter the monthly pay you have in mind to compare it with a local hire. The fee field shows our standard fee³; Deel's contractor plan is the default payroll tool⁴.

Other roles in Birmingham

Of the 16 roles we track in Birmingham, this one ranks #2 by median pay, after project coordinators ($100,820); executive assistants come next at $76,330.

Measured against the US median, accountants rank #3 of the 16 roles we track in Birmingham (-6.0%), between project coordinators (-1.5%) and administrative assistants (-6.2%). The typical role here is at -8.6%, so this job follows the area's general pay level. Accountants hold 13.6% of the jobs in the 15 of these roles with a job count in Birmingham, 12.1% across Alabama and 9.8% nationally. The job is a bigger part of the local workforce in these roles than it is nationally.

Other areas in Alabama

Across the 16 areas of Alabama with data for this job, the median runs from $63,250 in Gadsden to $79,220 in Huntsville, a gap of $15,970 a year. No other area in Alabama has as many accountants, and 14 of the other 15 pay less.

Birmingham against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, Birmingham is #41 of 521 US areas for this job. It is one of the larger markets for this job, with pay near the middle of the US range. Outside Alabama, Fresno and Columbus pay just above Birmingham and San Antonio-New Braunfels and Sioux City just below. All four are within $80 a year of the median in Birmingham. Of the three markets with about as many accountants, all three pay more.

Questions

Sources

How these pages are built: methodology and data sources. Last updated 2026-11-12.