Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Service in Louisiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,327
after federal, FICA and Louisiana tax
Tax takes
$5,563
15.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,328
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
$35,890
Kept after tax
$30,327
Worth in national money
$34,328
State rank
38
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Louisiana. The middle earner gets $35,890. That is 38 of 46 states, and about 7.09% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 484 occupations Louisiana publishes, this job lands at 399. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Louisiana is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $35,890 the take-home is $30,327; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $34,328 would nationally. The average lands at $35,390, below the middle of the range.
- For switchboard operators, including answering service, Louisiana sits in the lower band at $35,890, ranking 38 of 46 and trailing the national median by about 7.09%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Louisiana, this work ranks 399 of 484 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Post-tax income for switchboard operators, including answering service in Louisiana, on $35,890, is $30,327 — equivalent to $34,328 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 $35,390 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Service
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $21,240 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $35,890 |
| Top tenth earn over | $50,060 |
| This salary | $35,890 |
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 | $30,327 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,018 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,409 |
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 | $35,031 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,913 |
| 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 switchboard operators, including answering service in Louisiana earn under $35,890 and half over. The published range runs $21,240 at the tenth percentile to $50,060 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 $30,327, worked from $35,890. 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 399 of 484.
- One number stands for prices across all of Louisiana, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $34,328, the adjusted value of that $35,890 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 399 of 484 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for switchboard operators, including answering service in Louisiana, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $21,240 to $50,060; 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 $30,327, on $35,890 for work ranking 399 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 399 of 484 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Louisiana, so $34,328 — the adjusted value of that $35,890 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 399 of 484 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $21,240 at the bottom tenth to $50,060 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $34,328 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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, $30,327 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 46 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($21,240) and the ninetieth ($50,060) 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 $34,328 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 $30,327 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.