Highway Maintenance Workers in Louisiana

A hard hat, safety glasses and tool belt beside timber house framing.

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$37,211

after federal, FICA and Louisiana tax

Tax takes

$7,579

16.9% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$42,120

Louisiana costs less than average

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

$44,790

Kept after tax

$37,211

Worth in national money

$42,120

State rank

42

of 49 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • The nominal figure here is modest. Louisiana pays highway maintenance workers a middle wage of $44,790, 42 of 49 states and about 10.88% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
  • Middle of the local pack. Of 484 occupations Louisiana reports figures for, this is number 323.
  • Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $44,790 you keep $37,211 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $42,120 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $44,970, since top earners drag the number up.
  • Louisiana's $44,790 median for highway maintenance workers places it 42 of 49 states, about 10.88% 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.
  • In Louisiana's occupational distribution, highway maintenance workers sits at 323 of 484 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
  • Retained pay in Louisiana is $37,211 after the full tax stack, from $44,790. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $42,120 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $44,970 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.

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Pay band: Highway Maintenance Workers

The state median for this job

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$27,760
Half earn under$44,790
Top tenth earn over$63,010
This salary$44,790

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

Compare with
+$957take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in Louisiana$37,211
Take-home in Texas$38,169
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity−$2,842

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

Moving to
$0$48,227
$48,227in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$43,598
Raise you would need+$3,437
Prices in Texas97 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 highway maintenance workers in Louisiana earn under $44,790 and half over. The published range runs $27,760 at the tenth percentile to $63,010 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 $37,211, worked from $44,790. 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 323 of 484.
  • Two cautions on $42,120, the adjusted value of that $44,790 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 323 of 484 locally.
  • Figures are distribution medians for highway maintenance workers in Louisiana, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $27,760 to $63,010; 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 $37,211, on $44,790 for work ranking 323 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 323 of 484 in the state.
  • This $42,120 adjusted figure, worked from $44,790, 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 323 of 484 in the state. The occupation ranks 323 of 484 locally.

Questions people ask

Why is the pay range for this job so wide?

The label is broader than the work. From $27,760 at the bottom tenth to $63,010 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.

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 $42,120 in national terms.

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, $37,211 remains.

Why is this job missing from some states?

The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 49 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.

What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?

Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($27,760) and the ninetieth ($63,010) 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 $42,120 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 $37,211 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.