Carpenters in Louisiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$41,179
after federal, FICA and Louisiana tax
Tax takes
$8,741
17.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$46,612
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
$49,920
Kept after tax
$41,179
Worth in national money
$46,612
State rank
41
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Louisiana is among the lower-paying states for carpenters. The middle earner takes $49,920, ranking 41 of 51 states — about 17.6% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Carpenters ranks 254 among 484 occupations Louisiana publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $49,920 you keep $41,179 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $46,612 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $51,600, since top earners drag the number up.
- Louisiana ranks 41 of 51 for carpenters, with a median of $49,920 — about 17.6% 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.
- Position 254 of 484 in Louisiana places carpenters in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Retained pay in Louisiana is $41,179 after the full tax stack, from $49,920. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $46,612 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $51,600 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Carpenters
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $34,100 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $49,920 |
| Top tenth earn over | $69,310 |
| This salary | $49,920 |
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 | $41,179 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $42,291 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,092 |
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 | $48,537 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,739 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 88 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $49,920 as a midpoint for Louisiana, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $34,100 and the ninetieth is $69,310 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Louisiana's $41,179, worked from $49,920. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 254 of 484.
- Two cautions on $46,612, the adjusted value of that $49,920 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 254 of 484 locally.
- The Louisiana median of $49,920 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $34,100 to $69,310. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Louisiana take-home of $41,179, on $49,920 for work ranking 254 of 484 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 254 of 484 in the state.
- This $46,612 adjusted figure, worked from $49,920, 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 254 of 484 in the state. The occupation ranks 254 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 $51,600, 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 $34,100 at the bottom tenth to $69,310 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Louisiana is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $46,612 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Louisiana adds its own income tax on top — which is why $41,179 of this wage survives to your account.
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 $51,600. 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 ($34,100 to $69,310) 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 $46,612 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 $41,179 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.