Project Management Specialists in Louisiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$66,363
after federal, FICA and Louisiana tax
Tax takes
$18,487
21.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$75,118
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
$84,850
Kept after tax
$66,363
Worth in national money
$75,118
State rank
44
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for project management specialists is on the low side in Louisiana. The middle earner gets $84,850. That is 44 of 51 states, and about 17.07% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Louisiana. It ranks 72 out of 484 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $84,850 you keep $66,363 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $75,118 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $96,070, since top earners drag the number up.
- For project management specialists, Louisiana sits in the lower band at $84,850, ranking 44 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 17.07%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Louisiana, project management specialists ranks 72 of 484 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Retained pay in Louisiana is $66,363 after the full tax stack, from $84,850. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $75,118 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $96,070 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Project Management Specialists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $56,400 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $84,850 |
| Top tenth earn over | $143,780 |
| This salary | $84,850 |
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 | $66,363 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $68,522 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$4,604 |
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 | $81,781 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$6,359 |
| 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 project management specialists in Louisiana earn under $84,850 and half over. The published range runs $56,400 at the tenth percentile to $143,780 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $66,363 take-home in Louisiana comes from $84,850. 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 72 of 484.
- One number stands for prices across all of Louisiana, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $75,118, the adjusted value of that $84,850 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 72 of 484 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for project management specialists in Louisiana, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $56,400 to $143,780; 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 $66,363, from $84,850, 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 72 of 484 locally, and the state ranks 44 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Louisiana, so $75,118 — the adjusted value of that $84,850 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 72 of 484 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $96,070, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $56,400, the highest tenth $143,780, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $75,118.
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 $66,363 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 $96,070. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($56,400) and the ninetieth ($143,780) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
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 $75,118 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 $66,363 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.