What Registered Nurses earn in Shelby County, AL
According to the latest federal wage data for the Birmingham, AL metropolitan area, the median pay for Registered Nurses in Shelby County, AL is $78,680 a year, or $37.83 an hour. After federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare and state income tax, the paycheck shrinks to $60,671 a year, and rent, food and energy take another bite. The sections below walk through each step with the actual math for Shelby County, AL.
The mean wage is $78,940, which is 0.3% above the median, so pay is spread fairly evenly. The survey counts about 17,850 people working in this occupation across the Birmingham, AL metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Shelby County, AL has roughly 230,211 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Registered Nurses in the Birmingham, AL metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $62,230 a year ($29.92 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $102,960 or more ($49.50 an hour). That is a gap of $40,730 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $63,610 at the 25th percentile and $85,160 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.7 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Employers quote this occupation by the hour or by the year, so here are both: $37.83 an hour or $78,680 a year at the median for Shelby County, AL. Before any deductions, that is $6,557 a month, $3,026 every two weeks and $1,513 each week. After taxes the same job pays $29.17 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Registered Nurses
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Registered Nurses this way: "Assess patient health problems and needs, develop and implement nursing care plans, and maintain medical records. Administer nursing care to ill, injured, convalescent, or disabled patients. May advise patients on health maintenance and disease prevention or provide case management. Licensing or registration required."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Maintain accurate, detailed reports and records"; "Monitor, record, and report symptoms or changes in patients' conditions"; "Record patients' medical information and vital signs"; "Modify patient treatment plans as indicated by patients' responses and conditions".
Job outlook for Registered Nurses
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 3,465,400 jobs in 2025 to 3,660,100 in 2035, a change of +5.6%, faster than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 180,800 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 5.2% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: bachelor's degree. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $97,550 for this occupation; the Shelby County, AL median of $78,680 is 19.3% below it.
How pay in Shelby County, AL compares
Compared with the Alabama average
A worker in this occupation in Shelby County, AL earns $2,047 more than the Alabama average of $76,633, a premium of 2.7%. Over a year that premium is worth $2,047 before tax and roughly $1,578 after tax. Within Alabama, Shelby County, AL already has the highest median we track for this job.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Registered Nurses is $99,368 across the contiguous United States. At $78,680, Shelby County, AL pays $20,688 less, which is 20.8% 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 Shelby County, AL
Among the 451 occupations with published wages in Shelby County, AL, Registered Nurses ranks number 100 by median pay, ahead of about 78% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is General and Operations Managers at $123,560 a year, which is $44,880 more than the median for Registered Nurses.
From gross pay to take-home pay
Three separate tax bills sit between the gross salary and the bank account: federal income tax, FICA, and state income tax. For Registered Nurses earning the Shelby County, AL median of $78,680, they add up to $18,009. The result is $60,671 of take-home pay a year ($5,056 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $23 goes to taxes and $77 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 22.9%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $62,930. 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 22% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $8,759, an effective 11.1% of gross pay, well below the 22% 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 $4,878 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $1,141. FICA totals $6,019, which is 7.7% of gross pay.
State income tax in Alabama
Alabama income tax on this salary is $3,231 a year, or 4.1% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 37% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $269 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 Shelby County, AL
IRS Statistics of Income data for Shelby County, AL show an average adjusted gross income of $105,725 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 14.1% across all filers. Filers in the $75,000 to under $100,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 8.6%, compared with the 11.1% 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 Shelby County, AL
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Shelby County, AL: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $60,671 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Shelby County, AL, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $1,263 a month ($15,156 a year), and at $1,375 for two bedrooms. For Registered Nurses, a one-bedroom absorbs 25.0% of take-home pay and 19.3% 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 4.4% of gross pay for Registered Nurses in Shelby 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
Rent, food, energy and gasoline cost $22,270 a year in Shelby County, AL. Subtract that from $60,671 of take-home pay and $38,401 remains, which is $3,200 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 48.8% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Shelby County, AL
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Shelby 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 Shelby County, AL, set beside the Alabama and national medians.
Property taxes in Shelby County, AL
Homeowners in Shelby County, AL pay a median of $1,423 a year in real estate taxes, 81% above the Alabama median of $788 and 54% below the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $326,100, the median tax bill is 0.44% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Registered Nurses median of $78,680, a tax bill of that size would equal 1.8% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Shelby County, AL
Renters in Shelby County, AL pay a median gross rent of $1,401 a month in the Census survey, 39% 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 $1,263 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 $326,100, 55% above the Alabama median of $209,900. Median household income is $97,961, 53% above the Alabama median of $63,999, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 15.5% of that income.
Commuting in Shelby County, AL
Workers in Shelby County, AL who travel to a workplace spend an average of 29.5 minutes each way, 16% above the Alabama average of 25.5. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 4.9 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 16.9% of workers in Shelby County, AL work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Registered Nurses afford to live in Shelby 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 $78,680 that ceiling is $1,967 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,263 is $704 under it, so rent fits the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $24.29 an hour; the median for Registered Nurses is $37.83, which is 56% above that mark. Another way to see it: at $29.17 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 10.0 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,375 a month means $688 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $6,906 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $45,307.
How fast you can save
At $3,200 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 4 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 8 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Registered Nurses pay in Shelby County, AL
How much do Registered Nurses make per hour in Shelby County, AL?
The median is $37.83 per hour, based on $78,680 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $29.92 at the 10th percentile to $49.50 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Registered Nurses take home after taxes in Shelby County, AL?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $78,680 becomes $60,671 a year. That is $5,056 a month, $2,334 every two weeks or $1,167 a week.
How much tax do Registered Nurses pay in Shelby County, AL?
Total taxes are $18,009 a year, an effective rate of 22.9%: $8,759 federal income tax, $6,019 FICA and $3,231 Alabama income tax.
Do Registered Nurses earn more in Shelby County, AL than elsewhere in Alabama?
Yes. The local median of $78,680 is +2.7% versus the Alabama average of $76,633, a difference of $2,047 a year.
Can Registered Nurses afford a one-bedroom apartment in Shelby County, AL?
A one-bedroom costs $1,263 a month against take-home pay of $5,056, which is 25.0% of take-home pay. That meets the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $1,967 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Registered Nurses in Shelby County, AL?
About $3,200 a month ($38,401 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $22,270 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Shelby County, AL at the 30% guideline?
$24.29 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $15,156 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Registered Nurses is $37.83.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Birmingham, 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.