Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers in Louisiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$54,213
after federal, FICA and Louisiana tax
Tax takes
$12,597
18.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$61,365
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
$66,810
Kept after tax
$54,213
Worth in national money
$61,365
State rank
45
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Louisiana pays this job a middle wage of $66,810, 45 of 46 states and about 35.94% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Against other work in Louisiana, this sits in the middle: 137 of 484 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where Louisiana does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $66,810 you keep $54,213, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $61,365 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $68,800, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Louisiana's $66,810 median for software quality assurance analysts and testers places it 45 of 46 states, about 35.94% 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.
- Software quality assurance analysts and testers ranks 137 of 484 occupations in Louisiana by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- After federal, FICA and Louisiana income tax, retained pay for software quality assurance analysts and testers on $66,810 is $54,213. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $61,365 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 $68,800 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,890 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $66,810 |
| Top tenth earn over | $115,330 |
| This salary | $66,810 |
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 | $54,213 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $55,831 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,911 |
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 | $64,758 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$5,402 |
| 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 software quality assurance analysts and testers in Louisiana earn under $66,810 and half over. The published range runs $36,890 at the tenth percentile to $115,330 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $54,213 take-home in Louisiana comes from $66,810. 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 137 of 484.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $61,365 uses one figure for the whole of Louisiana. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 484 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 137.
- Figures are distribution medians for software quality assurance analysts and testers in Louisiana, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $36,890 to $115,330; 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 $54,213, from $66,810, 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 137 of 484 locally, and the state ranks 45 of 46 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $61,365, worked from $66,810, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Louisiana address, on work sitting at 137 of 484 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $36,890, the highest tenth $115,330, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Louisiana sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $61,365 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 $54,213 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 46 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($36,890) and the ninetieth ($115,330) 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 $61,365 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 $54,213 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 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.