Nursing Assistants in Louisiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$26,166
after federal, FICA and Louisiana tax
Tax takes
$4,344
14.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$29,618
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
$30,510
Kept after tax
$26,166
Worth in national money
$29,618
State rank
51
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for nursing assistants is on the low side in Louisiana. The middle earner gets $30,510. That is 51 of 51 states, and about 27.8% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 484 occupations Louisiana publishes, nursing assistants lands at 436. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Louisiana is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $30,510 the take-home is $26,166; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $29,618 would nationally. The average comes to $32,250, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For nursing assistants, Louisiana sits in the lower band at $30,510, ranking 51 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 27.8%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Louisiana, this work ranks 436 of 484 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Post-tax income for nursing assistants in Louisiana, on $30,510, is $26,166 — equivalent to $29,618 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 $32,250 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Nursing Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $27,980 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $30,510 |
| Top tenth earn over | $37,390 |
| This salary | $30,510 |
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 | $26,166 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $26,695 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,147 |
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 | $29,852 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,596 |
| 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 nursing assistants in Louisiana earn under $30,510 and half over. The published range runs $27,980 at the tenth percentile to $37,390 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 $26,166, worked from $30,510. 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 436 of 484.
- Two cautions on $29,618, the adjusted value of that $30,510 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 436 of 484 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for nursing assistants in Louisiana, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $27,980 to $37,390; 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 $26,166, on $30,510 for work ranking 436 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 436 of 484 in the state.
- This $29,618 adjusted figure, worked from $30,510, 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 436 of 484 in the state. The occupation ranks 436 of 484 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $32,250, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $27,980 at the bottom tenth to $37,390 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Louisiana sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $29,618 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 $26,166 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 $32,250. 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 ($27,980 to $37,390) 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 $29,618 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 $26,166 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.