Orderlies in Louisiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$23,683
after federal, FICA and Louisiana tax
Tax takes
$3,647
13.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$26,807
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
$27,330
Kept after tax
$23,683
Worth in national money
$26,807
State rank
47
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for orderlies is on the low side in Louisiana. The middle earner gets $27,330. That is 47 of 47 states, and about 28.62% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 484 occupations Louisiana publishes, orderlies lands at 461. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Here is where Louisiana does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $27,330 you keep $23,683, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $26,807 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $28,700, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For orderlies, Louisiana sits in the lower band at $27,330, ranking 47 of 47 and trailing the national median by about 28.62%. 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 461 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.
- After federal, FICA and Louisiana income tax, retained pay for orderlies on $27,330 is $23,683. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $26,807 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 $28,700 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Orderlies
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $24,230 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $27,330 |
| Top tenth earn over | $33,740 |
| This salary | $27,330 |
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 | $23,683 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $24,116 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,990 |
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 | $26,803 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,377 |
| 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 orderlies in Louisiana earn under $27,330 and half over. The published range runs $24,230 at the tenth percentile to $33,740 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $23,683 take-home in Louisiana comes from $27,330. 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 461 of 484.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $26,807 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 461.
- Figures are distribution medians for orderlies in Louisiana, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $24,230 to $33,740; 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 $23,683, from $27,330, 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 461 of 484 locally, and the state ranks 47 of 47 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $26,807, worked from $27,330, 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 461 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 $28,700 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $24,230 at the bottom tenth to $33,740 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $26,807 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, $23,683 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 47 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 $28,700. 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 ($24,230 to $33,740) 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 $26,807 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 $23,683 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 47 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.