Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers in Louisiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$23,246
after federal, FICA and Louisiana tax
Tax takes
$3,534
13.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$26,313
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
$26,780
Kept after tax
$23,246
Worth in national money
$26,313
State rank
44
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Louisiana pays this job a middle wage of $26,780, 44 of 51 states and about 21.19% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Louisiana this is lower-paid work. Of 484 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 463. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Louisiana is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $26,780 the take-home is $23,246; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $26,313 would nationally. The average comes to $27,250, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Louisiana's $26,780 median for dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers places it 44 of 51 states, about 21.19% 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.
- Against every occupation Louisiana reports, dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers ranks 463 of 484, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Post-tax income for dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers in Louisiana, on $26,780, is $23,246 — equivalent to $26,313 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 $27,250 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $16,080 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $26,780 |
| Top tenth earn over | $39,770 |
| This salary | $26,780 |
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 | $23,246 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $23,663 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,962 |
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 | $26,273 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,330 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 88 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Louisiana earn less than $26,780. The published range is $16,080 up to $39,770, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $23,246 take-home in Louisiana comes from $26,780. 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 463 of 484.
- One number stands for prices across all of Louisiana, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $26,313, the adjusted value of that $26,780 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 463 of 484 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers in Louisiana the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $16,080 to $39,770. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $23,246, from $26,780, 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 463 of 484 locally, and the state ranks 44 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Louisiana, so $26,313 — the adjusted value of that $26,780 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 463 of 484 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $16,080 and the top tenth $39,770 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $26,313.
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, $23,246 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.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($16,080) and the ninetieth ($39,770) 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 $26,313 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 $23,246 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.