Commercial Pilots in Louisiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$73,832
after federal, FICA and Louisiana tax
Tax takes
$22,108
23.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$83,572
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
$95,940
Kept after tax
$73,832
Worth in national money
$83,572
State rank
46
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Louisiana pays commercial pilots a middle wage of $95,940, 46 of 48 states and about 22.14% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Louisiana. It ranks 54 out of 484 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $95,940 you keep $73,832 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $83,572 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $109,200, since top earners drag the number up.
- Louisiana's $95,940 median for commercial pilots places it 46 of 48 states, about 22.14% 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.
- Within Louisiana, commercial pilots ranks 54 of 484 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Retained pay in Louisiana is $73,832 after the full tax stack, from $95,940. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $83,572 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $109,200 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Commercial Pilots
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $46,990 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $95,940 |
| Top tenth earn over | $169,410 |
| This salary | $95,940 |
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 | $73,832 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $76,324 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$5,030 |
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 | $92,398 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$6,947 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 88 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $95,940 as a midpoint for Louisiana, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $46,990 and the ninetieth is $169,410 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $73,832 take-home in Louisiana comes from $95,940. 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 54 of 484.
- One number stands for prices across all of Louisiana, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $83,572, the adjusted value of that $95,940 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 54 of 484 in the state.
- The Louisiana median of $95,940 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $46,990 to $169,410. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $73,832, from $95,940, 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 54 of 484 locally, and the state ranks 46 of 48 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Louisiana, so $83,572 — the adjusted value of that $95,940 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 54 of 484 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $109,200, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $46,990, the highest tenth $169,410, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $83,572 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Louisiana then takes its own share, leaving $73,832.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 48 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $109,200. 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 ($46,990) and the ninetieth ($169,410) 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 $83,572 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 $73,832 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.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.