Cooks, Restaurant in Louisiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$25,036
after federal, FICA and Louisiana tax
Tax takes
$4,014
13.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$28,339
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
$29,050
Kept after tax
$25,036
Worth in national money
$28,339
State rank
51
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Louisiana is among the lower-paying states for cooks, restaurant. The middle earner takes $29,050, ranking 51 of 51 states — about 22.31% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Measured against other jobs in Louisiana, this one sits low: 446 of 484 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Louisiana is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $29,050 the take-home is $25,036; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $28,339 would nationally. The average comes to $30,630, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Louisiana ranks 51 of 51 for cooks, restaurant, with a median of $29,050 — about 22.31% 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.
- Cooks, restaurant occupies position 446 of 484 in Louisiana's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Post-tax income for cooks, restaurant in Louisiana, on $29,050, is $25,036 — equivalent to $28,339 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 $30,630 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Cooks, Restaurant
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $21,970 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $29,050 |
| Top tenth earn over | $39,540 |
| This salary | $29,050 |
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 | $25,036 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $25,522 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,076 |
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 | $28,447 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,510 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 88 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of cooks, restaurant in Louisiana earn under $29,050 and half over. The published range runs $21,970 at the tenth percentile to $39,540 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Louisiana's $25,036, worked from $29,050. 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 446 of 484.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $28,339 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 446.
- Figures are distribution medians for cooks, restaurant in Louisiana, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $21,970 to $39,540; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- The Louisiana take-home of $25,036, on $29,050 for work ranking 446 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 446 of 484 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $28,339, worked from $29,050, 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 446 of 484 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $30,630 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $21,970 at the tenth percentile, $39,540 at the ninetieth.
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 $28,339.
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, $25,036 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 $30,630. 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 ($21,970 to $39,540) 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 $28,339 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 $25,036 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.