Moving between states / Alabama

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Moving from Minnesota to Alabama for work

What moves with you from Minnesota to Alabama: your licence, your take-home pay, and the programs that pay people to come. Every line below is computed from the two states' rules.

What the move does to your paycheck

On a $60,000 salary Alabama leaves you roughly $2,037 a year more than Minnesota does, because Alabama's rate is lower.

SalaryMinnesota state taxAlabama state taxDifference a year
$40,000$2,758$1,400+$1,358
$60,000$4,137$2,100+$2,037
$90,000$6,206$3,150+$3,056

Rough figures for a single filer: exact in the flat-rate and no-tax states, approximated at 70% of the top bracket in the progressive ones. Property and sales tax are not in it.

CNA: Minnesota to Alabama

Transfers by reciprocity. Your Minnesota certificate stays on the Minnesota Department of Health, Nursing Assistant Registry; to work in Alabama you apply to the Alabama Nurse Aide Registry (Alabama Department of Public Health) for reciprocity. It accepts an active certificate in good standing from another state; there is no retest if your record is clean. Most registries list you within two to six weeks.

RN and LPN: Minnesota to Alabama

Endorsement, six to twelve weeks. Minnesota is not in the compact, so your Minnesota licence is single-state. Apply to the Alabama board for licensure by endorsement (Nursys verification, fingerprints, the board's fee); six to twelve weeks is normal, so start before you give notice. Because Alabama is a compact state, ask for the new licence to be issued as a multistate licence: from then on it works in every compact state.

Electrician: Minnesota to Alabama

Reciprocity likely. Alabama licenses electricians at state level through the Alabama Electrical Contractors Board, and Journeyman and contractor licences are state-issued; the board reciprocates with a short list of states for journeymen who passed a comparable exam. Your Minnesota licence comes from the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, a state body, which is what a reciprocity application needs: ask it for a verification letter before you move.

CDL: Minnesota to Alabama

Transfers at the DMV. A commercial driver's licence transfers like any licence: within 30 days of becoming a Alabama resident you surrender the Minnesota CDL at a Alabama driver licence office, pass the vision test, pay the fee, and your endorsements carry over. A hazmat endorsement needs a fresh TSA threat assessment in Alabama. Your driving record follows you through the federal CDLIS system.

  • Remote Shoals: up to $10,000. For remote workers moving to the Shoals area (Florence, Muscle Shoals).

Going the other way? Minnesota has Harmony new-home rebate. See moving from Alabama to Minnesota.

Openings filed in Alabama

65 open positions filed with the Department of Labor by Alabama employers who could not fill them locally.

Your own route from Minnesota to Alabama

Tell us your trade and your licence. We write the steps for your case, check the job offer for scams, and keep your resume ready for Alabama employers.

Plan my move to Alabama

Same move, by trade

CNA: Minnesota to Alabama · RN or LPN: Minnesota to Alabama · Electrician: Minnesota to Alabama · Truck driver: Minnesota to Alabama

From Minnesota to the states next to Alabama

Mississippi (flat 4.4% state income tax) · Tennessee (no state income tax) · Georgia (flat 5.19% state income tax) · Florida (no state income tax)

To Alabama from the states next to Minnesota

North Dakota · South Dakota · Iowa · Wisconsin

Everything about working in Alabama · All moves between states · All 50 states

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