Sheet Metal Workers in Louisiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$41,489
after federal, FICA and Louisiana tax
Tax takes
$8,831
17.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$46,962
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
$50,320
Kept after tax
$41,489
Worth in national money
$46,962
State rank
41
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Louisiana pays sheet metal workers a middle wage of $50,320, 41 of 50 states and about 18.58% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Sheet metal workers ranks 249 among 484 occupations Louisiana publishes pay for.
- Louisiana is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $50,320 the take-home is $41,489; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $46,962 would nationally. The average comes to $52,960, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Louisiana's $50,320 median for sheet metal workers places it 41 of 50 states, about 18.58% 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.
- Position 249 of 484 in Louisiana places sheet metal workers in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Post-tax income for sheet metal workers in Louisiana, on $50,320, is $41,489 — equivalent to $46,962 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 $52,960 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Sheet Metal Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $34,650 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $50,320 |
| Top tenth earn over | $77,790 |
| This salary | $50,320 |
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 | $41,489 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $42,612 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,111 |
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 | $48,922 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,763 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 88 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $50,320 as a midpoint for Louisiana, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $34,650 and the ninetieth is $77,790 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Louisiana the take-home figure of $41,489, from $50,320, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 249 of 484 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Louisiana, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $46,962, the adjusted value of that $50,320 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 249 of 484 in the state.
- The Louisiana median of $50,320 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $34,650 to $77,790. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Louisiana is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $41,489 from $50,320. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 249 of 484 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Louisiana, so $46,962 — the adjusted value of that $50,320 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 249 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 $52,960, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $34,650 and the top tenth $77,790 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $46,962 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, $41,489 remains.
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 50 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 $52,960. 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 ($34,650) and the ninetieth ($77,790) 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 $46,962 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 $41,489 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.