Architects, Except Landscape and Naval in Louisiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$62,813
after federal, FICA and Louisiana tax
Tax takes
$16,767
21.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$71,100
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
$79,580
Kept after tax
$62,813
Worth in national money
$71,100
State rank
48
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Louisiana is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $79,580, ranking 48 of 51 states — about 19.84% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 484 occupations Louisiana reports, this job comes in at 92 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Here is where Louisiana does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $79,580 you keep $62,813, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $71,100 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $92,460, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Louisiana ranks 48 of 51 for architects, except landscape and naval, with a median of $79,580 — about 19.84% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Architects, except landscape and naval ranks 92 of 484 occupations by median in Louisiana, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- After federal, FICA and Louisiana income tax, retained pay for architects, except landscape and naval on $79,580 is $62,813. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $71,100 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $92,460 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Architects, Except Landscape and Naval
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $51,720 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $79,580 |
| Top tenth earn over | $154,590 |
| This salary | $79,580 |
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 | $62,813 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $64,815 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$4,401 |
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 | $76,735 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$6,080 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 88 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Louisiana earn less than $79,580. The published range is $51,720 up to $154,590, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $62,813 take-home in Louisiana comes from $79,580. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 92 of 484.
- Two cautions on $71,100, the adjusted value of that $79,580 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Louisiana. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 92 of 484 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for architects, except landscape and naval in Louisiana the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $51,720 to $154,590. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $62,813, from $79,580, assumes a single Louisiana filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 92 of 484 locally, and the state ranks 48 of 51 for it.
- This $71,100 adjusted figure, worked from $79,580, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 92 of 484 in the state. The occupation ranks 92 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 $92,460, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $51,720, the highest tenth $154,590, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $71,100.
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, $62,813 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 $92,460. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($51,720) and the ninetieth ($154,590) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
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 $71,100 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 $62,813 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.