File Clerks in Louisiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$27,473
after federal, FICA and Louisiana tax
Tax takes
$4,727
14.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$31,097
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
$32,200
Kept after tax
$27,473
Worth in national money
$31,097
State rank
47
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Louisiana pays file clerks a middle wage of $32,200, 47 of 49 states and about 26.15% 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, file clerks ranks 427. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Here is where Louisiana does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $32,200 you keep $27,473, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $31,097 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $33,060, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Louisiana's $32,200 median for file clerks places it 47 of 49 states, about 26.15% 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, file clerks ranks 427 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.
- After federal, FICA and Louisiana income tax, retained pay for file clerks on $32,200 is $27,473. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $31,097 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $33,060 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: File Clerks
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $20,920 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $32,200 |
| Top tenth earn over | $44,150 |
| This salary | $32,200 |
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 | $27,473 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $28,053 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,229 |
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 | $31,478 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,696 |
| 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 file clerks in Louisiana earn under $32,200 and half over. The published range runs $20,920 at the tenth percentile to $44,150 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 $27,473, worked from $32,200. 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 427 of 484.
- Two cautions on $31,097, the adjusted value of that $32,200 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 427 of 484 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for file clerks in Louisiana, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $20,920 to $44,150; 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 $27,473, on $32,200 for work ranking 427 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 427 of 484 in the state.
- This $31,097 adjusted figure, worked from $32,200, 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 427 of 484 in the state. The occupation ranks 427 of 484 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $20,920, the highest tenth $44,150, 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 $31,097 in national terms.
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 $27,473 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 49 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($20,920) and the ninetieth ($44,150) 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 $31,097 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 $27,473 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.