Metro area, Alabama
Birmingham, AL
520,290 people work in this area, at mean pay of $60,770 a year (BLS, May 2025), in every industry. What follows is how much of their working time the best AI models could finish, when, and in which jobs and tasks. Estimates.
of the paid hours. Estimate.
a year: 232 million hours at what they cost. Not a forecast of savings.
- 37%
- 17%
- 46%
of the paid hours are within reach now in tasks people already bring to Claude. Another 18% is within reach in tasks not yet seen there.
Across the US: 22% within reach now and 37% by the end of 2028, on the long-run pace at four in five.
Share of the paid hours within reach, now to 2030
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this area's paid hours were within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 2%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 20%. Today's estimate: 22%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
Where the hours are
Jobs by hours within reach now. The 40 largest jobs hold 50% of the people.
| People | Pay here | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Customer Service Representatives | 9,850 | 64% | 13 million | $41K |
| Registered Nurses | 17,850 | 28% | 10 million | $79K |
| Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive | 10,900 | 43% | 9.7 million | $45K |
| Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks | 5,430 | 78% | 8.8 million | $47K |
| Retail Salespersons | 15,280 | 19% | 6.2 million | $31K |
| Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Except Technical and Scientific Products | 6,210 | 36% | 4.6 million | $71K |
| Stockers and Order Fillers | 10,890 | 19% | 4.3 million | $36K |
| First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers | 5,820 | 35% | 4.2 million | $64K |
| Cashiers | 10,690 | 19% | 4.1 million | $29K |
| General and Operations Managers | 7,950 | 23% | 3.8 million | $124K |
| Office Clerks, General | 3,310 | 54% | 3.7 million | $34K |
| First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers | 4,370 | 40% | 3.7 million | $39K |
People: BLS counts for this area, May 2025. Pay here: the median paid for the job in this area, else its mean, else the national median. 483 smaller jobs (249,380 people) count in every total but are not listed. Task data covers 96% of the area's people; the rest are in BLS "all other" groups with no task list, or in counts BLS does not publish.
The tasks with the most hours within reach by the end of 2028
Across the whole area, on the chosen pace and reliability.
- Perform administrative or managerial functions, such as taking responsibility for a unit's staff, budget, planning, or long-range goals.Registered Nurses3 million hours60% of the task within reach
- Coordinate conferences, meetings, or special events, such as luncheons or graduation ceremonies.Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive2.4 million hours53% of the task within reach
- Obtain and examine all relevant information to assess validity of complaints and to determine possible causes, such as extreme weather conditions that could increase utility bills.Customer Service Representatives2.2 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Use computers for various applications, such as database management or word processing.Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive2.2 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Prepare, examine, or analyze accounting records, financial statements, or other financial reports to assess accuracy, completeness, and conformance to reporting and procedural standards.Accountants and Auditors2.1 million hours98% of the task within reach
- Complete contract forms, prepare change of address records, or issue service discontinuance orders, using computers.Customer Service Representatives2.1 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Maintain accurate, detailed reports and records.Registered Nurses2 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Maintain knowledge of current sales and promotions, policies regarding payment and exchanges, and security practices.Retail Salespersons1.9 million hours50% of the task within reach
- Operate computers programmed with accounting software to record, store, and analyze information.Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks1.8 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Set up and manage paper or electronic filing systems, recording information, updating paperwork, or maintaining documents, such as attendance records, correspondence, or other material.Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive1.8 million hours70% of the task within reach
Other areas in Alabama
Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Huntsville, AL266,650 people21% now, 40% by 2028
- Mobile, AL172,550 people22% now, 34% by 2028
- Montgomery, AL165,550 people22% now, 35% by 2028
- Northeast Alabama nonmetropolitan area152,620 people19% now, 28% by 2028
- Tuscaloosa, AL108,460 people20% now, 31% by 2028
- Daphne-Fairhope-Foley, AL87,120 people21% now, 30% by 2028
- Southeast Alabama nonmetropolitan area83,750 people20% now, 30% by 2028
- Auburn-Opelika, AL72,710 people21% now, 32% by 2028
How it is built: BLS counts the people in each job in this area; each job's tasks and their lengths give its share within reach at a date; the area's share is those shares weighted by people. Value is pay times 1.43 for benefits and payroll costs. Seen in Claude use splits today's share by whether Anthropic saw people bring each task to Claude in 2025; other AI tools are not counted. How it works