Foreign Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary in Louisiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$60,005
after federal, FICA and Louisiana tax
Tax takes
$15,405
20.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$67,921
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
$75,410
Kept after tax
$60,005
Worth in national money
$67,921
State rank
30
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Louisiana pays this job around $75,410 at the midpoint, 30 of 45 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Louisiana. It ranks 113 out of 484 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $75,410 you keep $60,005 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $67,921 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $79,280, since top earners drag the number up.
- For foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary the Louisiana median is $75,410, ranking 30 of 45 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Within Louisiana, foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary ranks 113 of 484 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Retained pay in Louisiana is $60,005 after the full tax stack, from $75,410. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $67,921 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $79,280 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Foreign Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $49,220 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $75,410 |
| Top tenth earn over | $123,620 |
| This salary | $75,410 |
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 | $60,005 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $61,881 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$4,241 |
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 | $72,743 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$5,858 |
| 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 foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary in Louisiana earn under $75,410 and half over. The published range runs $49,220 at the tenth percentile to $123,620 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $60,005 take-home in Louisiana comes from $75,410. 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 113 of 484.
- One number stands for prices across all of Louisiana, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $67,921, the adjusted value of that $75,410 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 113 of 484 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary in Louisiana, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $49,220 to $123,620; 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 $60,005, from $75,410, 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 113 of 484 locally, and the state ranks 30 of 45 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Louisiana, so $67,921 — the adjusted value of that $75,410 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 113 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 $79,280, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $49,220, the highest tenth $123,620, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $67,921.
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, $60,005 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 45 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 $79,280. 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 ($49,220) and the ninetieth ($123,620) 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 $67,921 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 $60,005 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.