Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers in Louisiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$47,932
after federal, FICA and Louisiana tax
Tax takes
$10,718
18.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$54,255
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
$58,650
Kept after tax
$47,932
Worth in national money
$54,255
State rank
36
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Louisiana is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $58,650, ranking 36 of 51 states — about 3.87% 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: 209 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 $58,650 the take-home is $47,932; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $54,255 would nationally. The average lands at $56,880, below the middle of the range.
- Louisiana ranks 36 of 51 for heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers, with a median of $58,650 — about 3.87% 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.
- Heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers ranks 209 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 heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers in Louisiana, on $58,650, is $47,932 — equivalent to $54,255 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 $56,880 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
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Pay band: Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,950 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $58,650 |
| Top tenth earn over | $78,210 |
| This salary | $58,650 |
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 | $47,932 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $49,305 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,517 |
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 | $56,941 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,253 |
| 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 heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers in Louisiana earn under $58,650 and half over. The published range runs $36,950 at the tenth percentile to $78,210 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Louisiana the take-home figure of $47,932, from $58,650, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 209 of 484 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $54,255 uses one figure for the whole of Louisiana. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 484 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 209.
- Figures are distribution medians for heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers in Louisiana, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $36,950 to $78,210; 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.
- Take-home for Louisiana is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $47,932 from $58,650. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 209 of 484 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $54,255, worked from $58,650, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Louisiana address, on work sitting at 209 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 $56,880, 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 — $36,950 at the tenth percentile, $78,210 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 $54,255 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 $47,932 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 $56,880. 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 ($36,950 to $78,210) 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 $54,255 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 $47,932 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.