Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators in Louisiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,310
after federal, FICA and Louisiana tax
Tax takes
$7,900
17.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$43,364
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
$46,210
Kept after tax
$38,310
Worth in national money
$43,364
State rank
47
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Louisiana is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $46,210, ranking 47 of 50 states — about 23.01% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Against other work in Louisiana, this sits in the middle: 313 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 $46,210 the take-home is $38,310; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $43,364 would nationally. The average comes to $48,160, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Louisiana ranks 47 of 50 for water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators, with a median of $46,210 — about 23.01% 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.
- Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators ranks 313 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 water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators in Louisiana, on $46,210, is $38,310 — equivalent to $43,364 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 $48,160 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,440 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,210 |
| Top tenth earn over | $63,870 |
| This salary | $46,210 |
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 | $38,310 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,310 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,911 |
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 | $44,965 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,521 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 88 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Louisiana earn less than $46,210. The published range is $31,440 up to $63,870, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Louisiana the take-home figure of $38,310, from $46,210, 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 313 of 484 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $43,364, the adjusted value of that $46,210 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 313 of 484 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators in Louisiana the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $31,440 to $63,870. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Louisiana is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $38,310 from $46,210. 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 313 of 484 locally.
- This $43,364 adjusted figure, worked from $46,210, 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 313 of 484 in the state. The occupation ranks 313 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 $48,160 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 — $31,440 at the tenth percentile, $63,870 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 $43,364.
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 $38,310.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
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 $48,160. 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 ($31,440 to $63,870) 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 $43,364 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 $38,310 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.