Surveyors in Louisiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$51,405
after federal, FICA and Louisiana tax
Tax takes
$11,735
18.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$58,187
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
$63,140
Kept after tax
$51,405
Worth in national money
$58,187
State rank
42
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for surveyors is on the low side in Louisiana. The middle earner gets $63,140. That is 42 of 50 states, and about 16.3% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against other work in Louisiana, this sits in the middle: 154 of 484 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Louisiana is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $63,140 the take-home is $51,405; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $58,187 would nationally. The average comes to $72,810, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For surveyors, Louisiana sits in the lower band at $63,140, ranking 42 of 50 and trailing the national median by about 16.3%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Surveyors ranks 154 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.
- Post-tax income for surveyors in Louisiana, on $63,140, is $51,405 — equivalent to $58,187 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 $72,810 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Surveyors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,810 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $63,140 |
| Top tenth earn over | $111,790 |
| This salary | $63,140 |
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 | $51,405 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $52,913 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,735 |
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 | $61,263 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,682 |
| 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 surveyors in Louisiana earn under $63,140 and half over. The published range runs $38,810 at the tenth percentile to $111,790 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 $51,405, worked from $63,140. 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 154 of 484.
- Two cautions on $58,187, the adjusted value of that $63,140 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 154 of 484 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for surveyors in Louisiana, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $38,810 to $111,790; 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 $51,405, on $63,140 for work ranking 154 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 154 of 484 in the state.
- This $58,187 adjusted figure, worked from $63,140, 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 154 of 484 in the state. The occupation ranks 154 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 $72,810, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $38,810, the highest tenth $111,790, 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 $58,187 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 $51,405.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 50 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $72,810. 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 ($38,810) and the ninetieth ($111,790) 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 $58,187 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 $51,405 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.