What Aerospace Engineers earn in Madison County, AL
If you are weighing a move or a job offer, start with $131,090: the median annual pay for Aerospace Engineers in Madison County, AL. Spread over a standard 2,080-hour work year, that is $63.02 an hour. Because the wage survey covers the whole Huntsville, AL metropolitan area, the number reflects employers across the region rather than a single town or a single company.
The mean wage is $135,660, which is 3.5% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 4,880 people working in this occupation across the Huntsville, AL metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Madison County, AL has roughly 405,718 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Aerospace Engineers in the Huntsville, AL metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $78,890 a year ($37.93 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $195,190 or more ($93.84 an hour). That is a gap of $116,300 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $100,070 at the 25th percentile and $167,050 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 2.5 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Converted to an hourly wage, the median for Aerospace Engineers in Madison County, AL is $63.02. A full-time schedule of 40 hours for 52 weeks adds up to $131,090, and the same salary is $10,924 a month before taxes or about $5,042 per biweekly pay period. After taxes the same job pays $45.80 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Aerospace Engineers
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Aerospace Engineers this way: "Perform engineering duties in designing, constructing, and testing aircraft, missiles, and spacecraft. May conduct basic and applied research to evaluate adaptability of materials and equipment to aircraft design and manufacture. May recommend improvements in testing equipment and techniques."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Direct or coordinate activities of engineering or technical personnel involved in designing, fabricating, modifying, or testing of aircraft or aerospace products"; "Plan or conduct experimental, environmental, operational, or stress tests on models or prototypes of aircraft or aerospace systems or equipment"; "Formulate mathematical models or other methods of computer analysis to develop, evaluate, or modify design, according to customer engineering requirements"; "Write technical reports or other documentation, such as handbooks or bulletins, for use by engineering staff, management, or customers".
Job outlook for Aerospace Engineers
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 68,700 jobs in 2025 to 74,400 in 2035, a change of +8.3%, faster than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 3,800 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 5.5% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: bachelor's degree. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $134,960 for this occupation; the Madison County, AL median of $131,090 is 2.9% below it.
How pay in Madison County, AL compares
Compared with the Alabama average
Madison County, AL pays above the state benchmark. The Alabama employment-weighted average for Aerospace Engineers is $128,093; the local median of $131,090 beats it by $2,997, or 2.3%. Within Alabama, Madison County, AL already has the highest median we track for this job.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Aerospace Engineers is $141,708 across the contiguous United States. At $131,090, Madison County, AL pays $10,618 less, which is 7.5% below that benchmark. Keep in mind that a higher salary only helps if living costs do not rise faster, which is why the cost sections below matter as much as the headline number.
Where this job ranks in Madison County, AL
Among the 357 occupations with published wages in Madison County, AL, Aerospace Engineers ranks number 21 by median pay, ahead of about 94% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Software Developers at $128,080 a year, which is $3,010 less than the median for Aerospace Engineers.
From gross pay to take-home pay
A salary of $131,090 does not arrive in full. We model a single filer with wage income only, the standard deduction and tax-year 2025 rules, and we keep the three tax layers apart: federal income tax, FICA (Social Security and Medicare) and state income tax. Together they take $35,820 a year, which leaves $95,270, or $7,939 a month.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $27 goes to taxes and $73 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 27.3%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $115,340. Federal brackets are marginal, so only the slice of income above each threshold is taxed at the higher rate; the last dollars of this salary fall in the 24% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $20,529, an effective 15.7% of gross pay, well below the 24% marginal rate because the lower brackets are cheaper.
Social Security and Medicare (FICA)
Payroll taxes are a flat percentage of wages. Social Security takes 6.2% up to a wage base of $176,100, which costs $8,128 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $1,901. FICA totals $10,028, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in Alabama
Alabama income tax on this salary is $5,263 a year, or 4.0% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 26% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $439 a month. Local taxes such as county or city income taxes are not included, so a few jurisdictions may withhold slightly more.
A cross-check with IRS data for Madison County, AL
IRS Statistics of Income data for Madison County, AL show an average adjusted gross income of $95,017 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 13.3% across all filers. Filers in the $100,000 to under $200,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 11.5%, compared with the 15.7% estimated here for a single filer taking the standard deduction. Gaps between the two reflect filing status, dependents, credits and other income, none of which a single-person wage estimate includes.
Cost of living in Madison County, AL
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Madison County, AL: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $95,270 of take-home pay.
Rent
The HUD Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Madison County, AL is $1,177 a month, or $14,124 a year. A two-bedroom costs $1,341 a month. For Aerospace Engineers, a one-bedroom absorbs 14.8% of take-home pay and 10.8% of gross pay.
Food
The USDA Thrifty Food Plan (August 2026) puts the cost of a nutritious home-cooked diet for an adult at about $3,436 a year, which is $286 a month or $66.07 a week. That equals 2.6% of gross pay for Aerospace Engineers in Madison County, AL. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Alabama residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,604 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $737, for $2,341 in total. Gasoline in Alabama averages $2.89 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,338.
What is left over
Add the four basics together and living costs come to $21,238 a year, 22% of take-home pay. That leaves $74,032 a year, or $6,169 a month, for savings, transportation beyond fuel, health care, debt and everything else. That margin equals 56.5% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Madison County, AL
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Madison County, AL: property taxes, housing prices and the daily commute. The figures below are exact U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates for Madison County, AL, set beside the Alabama and national medians.
Property taxes in Madison County, AL
Homeowners in Madison County, AL pay a median of $1,185 a year in real estate taxes, 50% above the Alabama median of $788 and 62% below the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $299,200, the median tax bill is 0.40% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Aerospace Engineers median of $131,090, a tax bill of that size would equal 0.9% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Madison County, AL
Renters in Madison County, AL pay a median gross rent of $1,209 a month in the Census survey, 20% above the Alabama median of $1,007. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,177 a month; the two measures differ because the Census figure covers units of every size that renters already occupy, while the HUD figure is a one-bedroom benchmark. The median value of an owner-occupied home is $299,200, 43% above the Alabama median of $209,900. Median household income is $86,499, 35% above the Alabama median of $63,999, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 16.3% of that income.
Commuting in Madison County, AL
Workers in Madison County, AL who travel to a workplace spend an average of 22.1 minutes each way, 13% below the Alabama average of 25.5. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 3.7 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 15.1% of workers in Madison County, AL work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Aerospace Engineers afford to live in Madison County, AL?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $131,090 that ceiling is $3,277 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,177 is $2,100 under it, so rent fits the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $22.63 an hour; the median for Aerospace Engineers is $63.02, which is 178% above that mark. Another way to see it: at $45.80 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 5.9 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,341 a month means $671 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $6,078 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $80,110.
How fast you can save
At $6,169 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 2 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 4 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Aerospace Engineers pay in Madison County, AL
What is the hourly wage for Aerospace Engineers in Madison County, AL?
The median is $63.02 per hour, based on $131,090 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $37.93 at the 10th percentile to $93.84 at the 90th percentile.
What is the take-home pay for Aerospace Engineers in Madison County, AL?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $131,090 becomes $95,270 a year. That is $7,939 a month, $3,664 every two weeks or $1,832 a week.
What percentage of pay goes to taxes for Aerospace Engineers in Madison County, AL?
Total taxes are $35,820 a year, an effective rate of 27.3%: $20,529 federal income tax, $10,028 FICA and $5,263 Alabama income tax.
Is pay for Aerospace Engineers in Madison County, AL above the Alabama average?
Yes. The local median of $131,090 is +2.3% versus the Alabama average of $128,093, a difference of $2,997 a year.
Is a one-bedroom rent affordable on the median Aerospace Engineers salary in Madison County, AL?
A one-bedroom costs $1,177 a month against take-home pay of $7,939, which is 14.8% of take-home pay. That meets the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $3,277 a month.
How much is left after rent, food and energy for Aerospace Engineers in Madison County, AL?
About $6,169 a month ($74,032 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $21,238 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Madison County, AL at the 30% guideline?
$22.63 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $14,124 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Aerospace Engineers is $63.02.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Huntsville, AL metropolitan area; hourly-only values are annualized at 2,080 hours. Rents are HUD Fair Market Rents, food costs come from the USDA Thrifty Food Plan, and energy prices come from the Energy Information Administration. County-level tax statistics come from the IRS Statistics of Income.
Taxes use tax-year 2025 federal brackets, FICA rates and the Alabama rules for a single filer with wage income only. Figures are estimates for planning and comparison, not tax or financial advice, and they exclude local income taxes, benefits, retirement contributions and individual circumstances.