Healthcare Social Workers in Louisiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$49,812
after federal, FICA and Louisiana tax
Tax takes
$11,268
18.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$56,383
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
$61,080
Kept after tax
$49,812
Worth in national money
$56,383
State rank
43
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Louisiana is among the lower-paying states for healthcare social workers. The middle earner takes $61,080, ranking 43 of 51 states — about 10.02% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Against other work in Louisiana, this sits in the middle: 177 of 484 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Louisiana is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $61,080 the take-home is $49,812; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $56,383 would nationally. The average comes to $63,510, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Louisiana ranks 43 of 51 for healthcare social workers, with a median of $61,080 — about 10.02% 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.
- Healthcare social workers ranks 177 of 484 occupations in Louisiana by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Post-tax income for healthcare social workers in Louisiana, on $61,080, is $49,812 — equivalent to $56,383 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 $63,510 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Healthcare Social Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $43,830 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $61,080 |
| Top tenth earn over | $79,170 |
| This salary | $61,080 |
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 | $49,812 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $51,258 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,635 |
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 | $59,280 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,396 |
| 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 healthcare social workers in Louisiana earn under $61,080 and half over. The published range runs $43,830 at the tenth percentile to $79,170 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 $49,812, worked from $61,080. 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 177 of 484.
- One number stands for prices across all of Louisiana, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $56,383, the adjusted value of that $61,080 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 177 of 484 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for healthcare social workers in Louisiana, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $43,830 to $79,170; 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 $49,812, on $61,080 for work ranking 177 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 177 of 484 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Louisiana, so $56,383 — the adjusted value of that $61,080 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 177 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 $63,510, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $43,830 at the tenth percentile, $79,170 at the ninetieth.
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 $56,383 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 $49,812 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
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 $63,510. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($43,830 to $79,170) 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 $56,383 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 $49,812 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.