Power Plant Operators in Louisiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$77,354
after federal, FICA and Louisiana tax
Tax takes
$23,816
23.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$87,559
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
$101,170
Kept after tax
$77,354
Worth in national money
$87,559
State rank
27
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Louisiana pays power plant operators around $101,170 at the midpoint, 27 of 49 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Within Louisiana this is well-paid work. Of 484 occupations with published figures in the state, power plant operators ranks 41 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Louisiana is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $101,170 the take-home is $77,354; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $87,559 would nationally. The average lands at $97,610, below the middle of the range.
- For power plant operators the Louisiana median is $101,170, ranking 27 of 49 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Ranked against every occupation Louisiana publishes a median for, power plant operators sits 41 of 484 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Post-tax income for power plant operators in Louisiana, on $101,170, is $77,354 — equivalent to $87,559 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 $97,610 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
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Pay band: Power Plant Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $62,410 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $101,170 |
| Top tenth earn over | $123,910 |
| This salary | $101,170 |
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 | $77,354 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $80,003 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$5,230 |
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 | $97,405 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$7,225 |
| 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 power plant operators in Louisiana earn under $101,170 and half over. The published range runs $62,410 at the tenth percentile to $123,910 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 $77,354, worked from $101,170. 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 41 of 484.
- Two cautions on $87,559, the adjusted value of that $101,170 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 41 of 484 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for power plant operators in Louisiana, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $62,410 to $123,910; 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 $77,354, on $101,170 for work ranking 41 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 41 of 484 in the state.
- This $87,559 adjusted figure, worked from $101,170, 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 41 of 484 in the state. The occupation ranks 41 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 $97,610 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 $62,410 at the bottom tenth to $123,910 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $87,559.
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 $77,354 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 49 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $97,610. 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 ($62,410 to $123,910) 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 $87,559 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 $77,354 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.