Tool and Die Makers in Louisiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,882
after federal, FICA and Louisiana tax
Tax takes
$8,068
17.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$44,012
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
$46,950
Kept after tax
$38,882
Worth in national money
$44,012
State rank
44
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Louisiana pays tool and die makers a middle wage of $46,950, 44 of 45 states and about 26.7% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Against other work in Louisiana, this sits in the middle: 300 of 484 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $46,950 you keep $38,882 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $44,012 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $50,380, since top earners drag the number up.
- Louisiana's $46,950 median for tool and die makers places it 44 of 45 states, about 26.7% 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.
- Tool and die makers ranks 300 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.
- Retained pay in Louisiana is $38,882 after the full tax stack, from $46,950. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $44,012 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $50,380 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Tool and Die Makers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $40,200 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,950 |
| Top tenth earn over | $62,240 |
| This salary | $46,950 |
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 | $38,882 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,904 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,947 |
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 | $45,678 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,564 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 88 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $46,950 as a midpoint for Louisiana, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $40,200 and the ninetieth is $62,240 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Louisiana the take-home figure of $38,882, from $46,950, 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 300 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 $44,012, the adjusted value of that $46,950 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 300 of 484 in the state.
- The Louisiana median of $46,950 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $40,200 to $62,240. 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 $38,882 from $46,950. 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 300 of 484 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Louisiana, so $44,012 — the adjusted value of that $46,950 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 300 of 484 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $50,380 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $40,200 at the tenth percentile, $62,240 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $44,012.
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 $38,882 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 45 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 $50,380. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($40,200 to $62,240) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Louisiana rather than a national figure.
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 $44,012 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 $38,882 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.