Teaching Assistants, Postsecondary in Louisiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,921
after federal, FICA and Louisiana tax
Tax takes
$6,029
15.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$36,132
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
$37,950
Kept after tax
$31,921
Worth in national money
$36,132
State rank
32
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Louisiana is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $37,950, ranking 32 of 45 states — about 11.56% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Measured against other jobs in Louisiana, this one sits low: 373 of 484 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Here is where Louisiana does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $37,950 you keep $31,921, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $36,132 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $38,420, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Louisiana ranks 32 of 45 for teaching assistants, postsecondary, with a median of $37,950 — about 11.56% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Teaching assistants, postsecondary occupies position 373 of 484 in Louisiana's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- After federal, FICA and Louisiana income tax, retained pay for teaching assistants, postsecondary on $37,950 is $31,921. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $36,132 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 $38,420 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Teaching Assistants, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $21,380 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $37,950 |
| Top tenth earn over | $59,880 |
| This salary | $37,950 |
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 | $31,921 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $32,673 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,509 |
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 | $37,014 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,034 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 88 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $37,950 as a midpoint for Louisiana, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $21,380 and the ninetieth is $59,880 — 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 $31,921, worked from $37,950. 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 373 of 484.
- Two cautions on $36,132, the adjusted value of that $37,950 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 373 of 484 locally.
- The Louisiana median of $37,950 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $21,380 to $59,880. 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 $31,921, on $37,950 for work ranking 373 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 373 of 484 in the state.
- This $36,132 adjusted figure, worked from $37,950, 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 373 of 484 in the state. The occupation ranks 373 of 484 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $21,380, the highest tenth $59,880, 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 $36,132 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 $31,921.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 45 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($21,380) and the ninetieth ($59,880) 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 $36,132 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 $31,921 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.