Paramedics in Louisiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$45,921
after federal, FICA and Louisiana tax
Tax takes
$10,129
18.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$51,979
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
$56,050
Kept after tax
$45,921
Worth in national money
$51,979
State rank
38
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for paramedics is on the low side in Louisiana. The middle earner gets $56,050. That is 38 of 51 states, and about 7.51% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 484 occupations Louisiana reports figures for, this is number 224.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $56,050 you keep $45,921 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $51,979 at national prices. Here the average runs under the middle, at $54,220.
- For paramedics, Louisiana sits in the lower band at $56,050, ranking 38 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 7.51%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- In Louisiana's occupational distribution, paramedics sits at 224 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 $45,921 after the full tax stack, from $56,050. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $51,979 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $54,220 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
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: Paramedics
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,530 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $56,050 |
| Top tenth earn over | $63,470 |
| This salary | $56,050 |
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 | $45,921 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $47,216 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,390 |
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 | $54,438 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,100 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 88 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Louisiana earn less than $56,050. The published range is $37,530 up to $63,470, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $45,921 take-home in Louisiana comes from $56,050. 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 224 of 484.
- Two cautions on $51,979, the adjusted value of that $56,050 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 224 of 484 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for paramedics in Louisiana the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $37,530 to $63,470. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $45,921, from $56,050, 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 224 of 484 locally, and the state ranks 38 of 51 for it.
- This $51,979 adjusted figure, worked from $56,050, 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 224 of 484 in the state. The occupation ranks 224 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 $54,220, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $37,530 at the tenth percentile, $63,470 at the ninetieth.
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 $51,979 in national terms.
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 $45,921 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 $54,220. 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 ($37,530 to $63,470) 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 $51,979 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 $45,921 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.