Public Safety Telecommunicators in Louisiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$32,385
after federal, FICA and Louisiana tax
Tax takes
$6,165
16.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$36,657
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
$38,550
Kept after tax
$32,385
Worth in national money
$36,657
State rank
49
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Louisiana pays this job a middle wage of $38,550, 49 of 51 states and about 27.32% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Louisiana this is lower-paid work. Of 484 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 364. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Here is where Louisiana does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $38,550 you keep $32,385, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $36,657 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $42,070, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Louisiana's $38,550 median for public safety telecommunicators places it 49 of 51 states, about 27.32% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Against every occupation Louisiana reports, public safety telecommunicators ranks 364 of 484, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- After federal, FICA and Louisiana income tax, retained pay for public safety telecommunicators on $38,550 is $32,385. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $36,657 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 $42,070 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: Public Safety Telecommunicators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $29,150 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $38,550 |
| Top tenth earn over | $59,730 |
| This salary | $38,550 |
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 | $32,385 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $33,155 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,538 |
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 | $37,591 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,070 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 88 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $38,550 as a midpoint for Louisiana, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $29,150 and the ninetieth is $59,730 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Louisiana's $32,385, worked from $38,550. 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 364 of 484.
- One number stands for prices across all of Louisiana, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $36,657, the adjusted value of that $38,550 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 364 of 484 in the state.
- The Louisiana median of $38,550 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $29,150 to $59,730. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Louisiana take-home of $32,385, on $38,550 for work ranking 364 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 364 of 484 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Louisiana, so $36,657 — the adjusted value of that $38,550 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 364 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 $42,070 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $29,150, the highest tenth $59,730, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $36,657 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Louisiana then takes its own share, leaving $32,385.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like 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 $42,070. 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 ($29,150) and the ninetieth ($59,730) 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 $36,657 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 $32,385 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.