Firefighters in Louisiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$28,185
after federal, FICA and Louisiana tax
Tax takes
$4,935
14.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$31,903
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
$33,120
Kept after tax
$28,185
Worth in national money
$31,903
State rank
50
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Louisiana pays firefighters a middle wage of $33,120, 50 of 50 states and about 44.13% 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, firefighters ranks 419. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $33,120 you keep $28,185 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $31,903 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $36,610, since top earners drag the number up.
- Louisiana's $33,120 median for firefighters places it 50 of 50 states, about 44.13% 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, firefighters ranks 419 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.
- Retained pay in Louisiana is $28,185 after the full tax stack, from $33,120. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $31,903 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $36,610 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Firefighters
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $22,510 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $33,120 |
| Top tenth earn over | $56,670 |
| This salary | $33,120 |
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 | $28,185 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $28,792 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,274 |
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 | $32,364 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,750 |
| 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 firefighters in Louisiana earn under $33,120 and half over. The published range runs $22,510 at the tenth percentile to $56,670 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 $28,185, worked from $33,120. 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 419 of 484.
- Two cautions on $31,903, the adjusted value of that $33,120 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 419 of 484 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for firefighters in Louisiana, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $22,510 to $56,670; 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 $28,185, on $33,120 for work ranking 419 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 419 of 484 in the state.
- This $31,903 adjusted figure, worked from $33,120, 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 419 of 484 in the state. The occupation ranks 419 of 484 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $36,610, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $22,510, the highest tenth $56,670, 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 $31,903 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 $28,185 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 50 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 $36,610. 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 ($22,510) and the ninetieth ($56,670) 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 $31,903 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 $28,185 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.