Cooks, Short Order in Louisiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$22,834
after federal, FICA and Louisiana tax
Tax takes
$3,426
13.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$25,846
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
$26,260
Kept after tax
$22,834
Worth in national money
$25,846
State rank
45
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for cooks, short order is on the low side in Louisiana. The middle earner gets $26,260. That is 45 of 49 states, and about 26.81% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 484 occupations Louisiana publishes, cooks, short order lands at 468. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $26,260 you keep $22,834 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $25,846 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $29,110, since top earners drag the number up.
- For cooks, short order, Louisiana sits in the lower band at $26,260, ranking 45 of 49 and trailing the national median by about 26.81%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Louisiana, this work ranks 468 of 484 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Retained pay in Louisiana is $22,834 after the full tax stack, from $26,260. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $25,846 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $29,110 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Cooks, Short Order
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $19,690 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $26,260 |
| Top tenth earn over | $40,530 |
| This salary | $26,260 |
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 | $22,834 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $23,235 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,935 |
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 | $25,772 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,285 |
| 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, short order in Louisiana earn under $26,260 and half over. The published range runs $19,690 at the tenth percentile to $40,530 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $22,834 take-home in Louisiana comes from $26,260. 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 468 of 484.
- One number stands for prices across all of Louisiana, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $25,846, the adjusted value of that $26,260 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 468 of 484 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for cooks, short order in Louisiana, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $19,690 to $40,530; 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.
- Retained pay of $22,834, from $26,260, 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 468 of 484 locally, and the state ranks 45 of 49 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Louisiana, so $25,846 — the adjusted value of that $26,260 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 468 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 $29,110, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $19,690 at the bottom tenth to $40,530 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Louisiana sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $25,846 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 $22,834.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 49 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $29,110. 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 ($19,690) and the ninetieth ($40,530) 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 $25,846 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 $22,834 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.