Animal Caretakers in Louisiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$24,143
after federal, FICA and Louisiana tax
Tax takes
$3,767
13.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$27,328
Louisiana costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Louisiana — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$27,910
Kept after tax
$24,143
Worth in national money
$27,328
State rank
50
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Louisiana pays animal caretakers a middle wage of $27,910, 50 of 51 states and about 21.07% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Louisiana this is lower-paid work. Of 484 occupations the state publishes figures for, animal caretakers ranks 452. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Louisiana is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $27,910 the take-home is $24,143; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $27,328 would nationally. The average comes to $29,840, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Louisiana's $27,910 median for animal caretakers places it 50 of 51 states, about 21.07% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Against every occupation Louisiana reports, animal caretakers ranks 452 of 484, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Post-tax income for animal caretakers in Louisiana, on $27,910, is $24,143 — equivalent to $27,328 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $29,840 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Animal Caretakers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $21,600 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $27,910 |
| Top tenth earn over | $40,000 |
| This salary | $27,910 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Louisiana | $24,143 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $24,594 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,019 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $27,362 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,427 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 88 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $27,910 as a midpoint for Louisiana, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $21,600 and the ninetieth is $40,000 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Louisiana the take-home figure of $24,143, from $27,910, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 452 of 484 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $27,328 uses one figure for the whole of Louisiana. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 484 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 452.
- The Louisiana median of $27,910 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $21,600 to $40,000. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Louisiana is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $24,143 from $27,910. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 452 of 484 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $27,328, worked from $27,910, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Louisiana address, on work sitting at 452 of 484 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $29,840, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $21,600 at the bottom tenth to $40,000 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $27,328.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Louisiana's own levy, $24,143 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Louisiana is $29,840. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($21,600 to $40,000) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Louisiana rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Louisiana's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $27,328 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $24,143 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Louisiana income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.