Merchandise Displayers and Window Trimmers in Louisiana

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May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$29,530

after federal, FICA and Louisiana tax

Tax takes

$5,330

15.3% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$33,426

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

$34,860

Kept after tax

$29,530

Worth in national money

$33,426

State rank

49

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 $34,860, ranking 49 of 51 states — about 11.5% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
  • Measured against other jobs in Louisiana, this one sits low: 408 of 484 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
  • Here is where Louisiana does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $34,860 you keep $29,530, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $33,426 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $40,640, because the best-paid pull it up.
  • Louisiana ranks 49 of 51 for merchandise displayers and window trimmers, with a median of $34,860 — about 11.5% 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.
  • Merchandise displayers and window trimmers occupies position 408 of 484 in Louisiana's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
  • After federal, FICA and Louisiana income tax, retained pay for merchandise displayers and window trimmers on $34,860 is $29,530. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $33,426 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $40,640 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.

Compare this career across states

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Pay band: Merchandise Displayers and Window Trimmers

The state median for this job

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$28,350
Half earn under$34,860
Top tenth earn over$49,740
This salary$34,860

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
+$660take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in Louisiana$29,530
Take-home in Texas$30,190
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity−$2,359

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$37,713
$37,713in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$34,039
Raise you would need+$2,853
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 merchandise displayers and window trimmers in Louisiana earn under $34,860 and half over. The published range runs $28,350 at the tenth percentile to $49,740 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
  • That $29,530 take-home in Louisiana comes from $34,860. 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 408 of 484.
  • Two cautions on $33,426, the adjusted value of that $34,860 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 408 of 484 locally.
  • Figures are distribution medians for merchandise displayers and window trimmers in Louisiana, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $28,350 to $49,740; 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 $29,530, from $34,860, 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 408 of 484 locally, and the state ranks 49 of 51 for it.
  • This $33,426 adjusted figure, worked from $34,860, 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 408 of 484 in the state. The occupation ranks 408 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 $40,640 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.

How much does pay for this job actually vary?

Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $28,350 and the top tenth $49,740, so most people doing this work in Louisiana sit within a fairly tight band.

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 $33,426.

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 $29,530 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 $40,640. 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 ($28,350 to $49,740) 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 $33,426 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 $29,530 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.