What skilled trades pay in Alabama, where the jobs are and how work is changing, from 39 public government sources. The best-paying trade here is elevator installer at a $103,700 median. For every trade and metro, start from the Alabama pay page.
How Alabama compares
2 of the 39 trades we track in Alabama pay more than in a typical U.S. metro. The biggest premiums are for insulation installer (+1%), auto body repairer (+1%) and appliance repair technician (-1%), and the biggest gaps for flooring installer (-31%) and rebar worker (-23%). Prices in Alabama's metros run about 12% below the U.S. average, and a typical 1-bedroom rents for $968 a month (U.S. metros: $1,097).
Best-paying trades in Alabama
Statewide median pay, BLS May 2025. The lowest-paying trade we track here is landscaper at $35,630.
Every trade in Alabama
Statewide medians and jobs, BLS OEWS May 2025. “vs. U.S.” compares with the typical U.S. metro median for the trade.
Where the jobs are
- Construction Laborer: 18,400 jobs
- Industrial Machinery Mechanic: 17,850 jobs
- Maintenance Technician: 16,660 jobs
- Construction Supervisor: 13,580 jobs
- Welder: 12,450 jobs
Alabama metros, best pay first
Ranked by how each metro's trade pay compares with all U.S. metros, averaged across trades.
Construction hiring
- Mobile: +15.0% (14,376 workers)
- Montgomery: +8.2% (7,501 workers)
- Tuscaloosa: +3.3% (5,744 workers)
- Huntsville: +2.9% (11,320 workers)
- Birmingham: +0.8% (28,039 workers)
- Daphne: +0.7% (6,273 workers)
Change in private construction jobs from a year earlier, 2026 Q1, metros with at least 5,000 construction workers (BLS QCEW).
Unions
6.3% of Alabama workers belong to a union (7.2% are covered by a union contract), compared with about 10% nationally (all jobs, 2025).
Apprenticeships
Registered apprentices in Alabama who finished or left a program in FY2020–2024 completed most often in electrical lineworker (95%), maintenance technician (83%) and industrial machinery mechanic (68%).
Wages and safety
Unpaid wages recovered
Since 2018, the U.S. Labor Department has concluded 250 wage cases against construction employers in Alabama, recovering $3,204,811 in back wages for 2,304 workers.
DOL Wage and Hour Division enforcement data, cases concluded 2018–2026. Counts only; employers aren't named here.
Safety inspections
In 2025, federal OSHA opened 327 inspections of construction worksites in the state. About 17% were set off by a complaint, a referral or an accident (10 after an accident or fatality); the rest were planned spot checks.
OSHA inspection data via the U.S. Department of Labor, construction (NAICS 23), inspections opened in 2025. Counts only.
Storm and disaster rebuild work
Since 2016, the Alabama metros with the most federal major disasters are Birmingham (9), Auburn (5) and Tuscaloosa (5) (FEMA).
Veterans
Veterans: train on the job with the GI Bill
In Alabama, 131 employers and programs are approved for GI Bill on-the-job training and apprenticeships, across all fields. Veterans in an approved trade apprenticeship can get a monthly housing allowance on top of apprentice pay. Search approved employers with the VA's GI Bill Comparison Tool.
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, GI Bill Comparison Tool data, October 2026.
Common questions
What is the highest-paying skilled trade in Alabama?
Elevator Installer pays the most of the trades we track, with a $103,700 statewide median (BLS, May 2025), followed by electrical lineworker and construction supervisor.
Which trade has the most jobs in Alabama?
construction laborers, with about 18,400 jobs statewide, followed by industrial machinery mechanics and maintenance technicians.
Which Alabama city pays the trades best?
Mobile, compared with other U.S. metros across the trades we track, followed by Decatur.
Is construction hiring growing in Alabama?
In 2026 Q1, private construction jobs were up 15.0% from a year earlier in Mobile, the fastest-changing large market in the state, and up 0.7% in Daphne.
Part of the State of Trade Pay 2026 report. Cite as “PayByTrade, State of Trade Pay in Alabama 2026, payby.trade/report/al/.”