Dental Hygienists in Louisiana

A stethoscope and folded scrubs in a sunlit clinical workspace.

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$66,625

after federal, FICA and Louisiana tax

Tax takes

$18,615

21.8% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$75,415

Louisiana costs less than average

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

$85,240

Kept after tax

$66,625

Worth in national money

$75,415

State rank

40

of 50 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • Louisiana is among the lower-paying states for dental hygienists. The middle earner takes $85,240, ranking 40 of 50 states — about 13.11% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
  • Within Louisiana this is well-paid work. Of 484 occupations with published figures in the state, dental hygienists ranks 71 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
  • Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $85,240 you keep $66,625 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $75,415 at national prices. Here the average runs under the middle, at $83,160.
  • Louisiana ranks 40 of 50 for dental hygienists, with a median of $85,240 — about 13.11% 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.
  • Ranked against every occupation Louisiana publishes a median for, dental hygienists sits 71 of 484 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
  • Retained pay in Louisiana is $66,625 after the full tax stack, from $85,240. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $75,415 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $83,160 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.

Compare this career across states

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Pay band: Dental Hygienists

The state median for this job

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$49,900
Half earn under$85,240
Top tenth earn over$98,330
This salary$85,240

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

Compare with
+$2,171take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in Louisiana$66,625
Take-home in Texas$68,796
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity−$4,619

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

Moving to
$0$91,620
$91,620in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$82,154
Raise you would need+$6,380
Prices in Texas97 vs 88

State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.

Sources and assumptions
  • Treat $85,240 as a midpoint for Louisiana, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $49,900 and the ninetieth is $98,330 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
  • That $66,625 take-home in Louisiana comes from $85,240. 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 71 of 484.
  • Two cautions on $75,415, the adjusted value of that $85,240 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 71 of 484 locally.
  • The Louisiana median of $85,240 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $49,900 to $98,330. 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 $66,625, from $85,240, 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 71 of 484 locally, and the state ranks 40 of 50 for it.
  • This $75,415 adjusted figure, worked from $85,240, 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 71 of 484 in the state. The occupation ranks 71 of 484 locally.

Questions people ask

How much does pay for this job actually vary?

The range here is narrow. From $49,900 at the bottom tenth to $98,330 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.

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 $75,415.

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 $66,625 of this wage survives to your account.

Why is this job missing from some states?

A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.

What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?

The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($49,900 to $98,330) 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 $75,415 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 $66,625 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.