Locksmiths and Safe Repairers in Louisiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,573
after federal, FICA and Louisiana tax
Tax takes
$7,977
17.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$43,661
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
$46,550
Kept after tax
$38,573
Worth in national money
$43,661
State rank
37
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for locksmiths and safe repairers is on the low side in Louisiana. The middle earner gets $46,550. That is 37 of 48 states, and about 9.29% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against other work in Louisiana, this sits in the middle: 308 of 484 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $46,550 you keep $38,573 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $43,661 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $51,740, since top earners drag the number up.
- For locksmiths and safe repairers, Louisiana sits in the lower band at $46,550, ranking 37 of 48 and trailing the national median by about 9.29%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Locksmiths and safe repairers ranks 308 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.
- Retained pay in Louisiana is $38,573 after the full tax stack, from $46,550. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $43,661 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $51,740 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Locksmiths and Safe Repairers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $24,460 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,550 |
| Top tenth earn over | $76,740 |
| This salary | $46,550 |
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 | $38,573 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,583 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,928 |
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 | $45,293 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,541 |
| 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 locksmiths and safe repairers in Louisiana earn under $46,550 and half over. The published range runs $24,460 at the tenth percentile to $76,740 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $38,573 take-home in Louisiana comes from $46,550. 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 308 of 484.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $43,661 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 308.
- Figures are distribution medians for locksmiths and safe repairers in Louisiana, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $24,460 to $76,740; 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 $38,573, from $46,550, 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 308 of 484 locally, and the state ranks 37 of 48 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $43,661, worked from $46,550, 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 308 of 484 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $51,740 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $24,460 and the top tenth $76,740 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $43,661.
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, $38,573 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 48 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release 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 $51,740. 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 ($24,460) and the ninetieth ($76,740) 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 $43,661 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 $38,573 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.