How much does a Plumber make in Louisiana?

BLS reports a median annual wage of $64,720 for Plumbers in Louisiana as of the latest OES release. That is the 50th-percentile figure — half earn more, half earn less. The 25th-percentile is $50,780 and the 75th-percentile is $74,800.

What is the real (cost-adjusted) Plumber salary in Louisiana?

After BEA RPP adjustment (regional price parity index 88.7 for Louisiana), the real-wage equivalent is $72,965 — what the $64,720 nominal salary actually buys. Quartiles in real terms: $57,249 to $84,329.

Where does Louisiana rank for Plumber pay?

On nominal BLS wages alone, Louisiana ranks among the 51 states and DC by median pay. After the BEA cost-of-living adjustment the ordering changes — high-cost states fall, low-cost states rise. Both rankings are shown in the data table on this page.

How wide is the wage spread in Louisiana?

P10 to P90 spans $38,190 to $77,610. That spread captures entry-level to top-quartile pay, including specialty differentials and metro-area variance within the state.

What are the limits of these Plumber salary numbers?

BLS OES is an employer survey of W-2 wages — it excludes contractor pay, bonuses outside the base wage definition, equity compensation, and tip income. Self-employed practitioners and gig workers are not represented. For occupations with significant non-W-2 income, the BLS figure is a floor, not a complete picture.

When does this data update?

BLS OES releases a new May reference set roughly each spring; we re-run the ETL pipeline within two weeks of release. BEA RPP refreshes annually. The last-synced timestamp at the top of this page reflects the most recent build.

How long is the Louisiana plumbing apprenticeship and what's the master plumber payback?

Louisiana typically requires 4-5 years (8,000-10,000 hours) of supervised on-the-job training plus 144+ classroom hours per year before the journeyman plumber exam. Master plumber licensure in Louisiana requires an additional 2-5 years post-journeyman plus a separate exam, and unlocks business ownership, permit-pulling authority, and significantly higher compensation — owner-operator master plumbers in Louisiana routinely earn 1.5-3× the BLS journeyman median once business profit is included. Apprenticeship pay starts at 40-60% of journeyman scale and ratchets up annually.

How Much Do Plumbers Make in Louisiana? $65K (2026 BLS + BEA)

TL;DR

Louisiana pays Plumbers a BLS median of $64,720 — the more useful number is $72,965, what that paycheck buys after rent and services.
Below-100 RPP flips this state above its nominal rank in real-wage terms; the gap is about $8,245.
Quartile range $50,780 (bottom 25%) to $74,800 (top 25%); the P10-P90 envelope is $38,190 to $77,610.
On a real-wage basis, this state sits at #10 of 51; nominal rank is #17.

Wage breakdown — Louisiana

Percentile	Nominal (BLS)	Real (BEA RPP-adjusted)
P10 (entry tier)	$38,190	$43,055
P25 (lower quartile)	$50,780	$57,249
P50 (median)	$64,720	$72,965
P75 (upper quartile)	$74,800	$84,329
P90 (top tier)	$77,610	$87,497
Mean	$62,520	$70,485
Employment	9,040 Plumbers in Louisiana

Cost of living — BEA Regional Price Parity

Component	Louisiana index (US = 100)
All-items RPP	88.7
Goods	93.0
Services	76.7
Rents	65.1

Louisiana sits below the national baseline (RPP 88.7), so nominal pay translates to a higher real wage than the BLS median suggests — particularly visible in rents at 65.1.

After-tax take-home — Louisiana (2024 BLS · 2024 tax year, single filer)

Layer-by-layer take-home math at the BLS median

Layer	Amount	Note
Gross BLS P50 (Plumber)	$64,720	nominal median
Federal income tax	−$5,628	8.7% effective; std deduction $15,750 applied
State income tax	−$1,567	3.0% flat (2025+ HB 2)
FICA (SS 6.2% + Medicare 1.45%)	−$4,951	SS capped at $183,600 wage base
Take-home (after-tax)	$52,574	81.2% of gross
Real take-home (RPP-adjusted)	$59,272	÷ (88.7 / 100) BEA cost-of-living

What the Louisiana state-tax burden means for Plumber take-home

Louisiana's state tax is light at this income tier (~2.4% effective). The bigger compensation lever is the below-baseline cost of living (RPP 88.7), which lifts real take-home above nominal after-tax — net real after-tax $59,272.

Computed from 2026 IRS federal brackets (Rev. Proc. 2025-32), 2026 state DOR brackets, and 2026 FICA rates. Single filer, standard deduction, no other adjustments. See methodology · tax for limitations (married filers, ITM/SALT itemizers, retirement deferrals, HSA, dependent credits, etc.).

National context

Across the United States, BLS reports a national median of $62,970 for Plumbers with mean pay of $69,940 and total employment of 455,940. Louisiana sits at #17 on nominal pay and #10 on real (cost-adjusted) pay among the 51 states and DC. After cost adjustment, Louisiana climbs 7 positions — the cost of living is favorable relative to the wage.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a Plumber make in Louisiana?: BLS reports a median annual wage of $64,720 for Plumbers in Louisiana as of the latest OES release. That is the 50th-percentile figure — half earn more, half earn less. The 25th-percentile is $50,780 and the 75th-percentile is $74,800.
What is the real (cost-adjusted) Plumber salary in Louisiana?: After BEA RPP adjustment (regional price parity index 88.7 for Louisiana), the real-wage equivalent is $72,965 — what the $64,720 nominal salary actually buys. Quartiles in real terms: $57,249 to $84,329.
Where does Louisiana rank for Plumber pay?: On nominal BLS wages alone, Louisiana ranks among the 51 states and DC by median pay. After the BEA cost-of-living adjustment the ordering changes — high-cost states fall, low-cost states rise. Both rankings are shown in the data table on this page.
How wide is the wage spread in Louisiana?: P10 to P90 spans $38,190 to $77,610. That spread captures entry-level to top-quartile pay, including specialty differentials and metro-area variance within the state.
What are the limits of these Plumber salary numbers?: BLS OES is an employer survey of W-2 wages — it excludes contractor pay, bonuses outside the base wage definition, equity compensation, and tip income. Self-employed practitioners and gig workers are not represented. For occupations with significant non-W-2 income, the BLS figure is a floor, not a complete picture.
When does this data update?: BLS OES releases a new May reference set roughly each spring; we re-run the ETL pipeline within two weeks of release. BEA RPP refreshes annually. The last-synced timestamp at the top of this page reflects the most recent build.
How long is the Louisiana plumbing apprenticeship and what's the master plumber payback?: Louisiana typically requires 4-5 years (8,000-10,000 hours) of supervised on-the-job training plus 144+ classroom hours per year before the journeyman plumber exam. Master plumber licensure in Louisiana requires an additional 2-5 years post-journeyman plus a separate exam, and unlocks business ownership, permit-pulling authority, and significantly higher compensation — owner-operator master plumbers in Louisiana routinely earn 1.5-3× the BLS journeyman median once business profit is included. Apprenticeship pay starts at 40-60% of journeyman scale and ratchets up annually.

Sources & methodology

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OES), SOC 47-2152, 2024 reference period.
U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis — Regional Price Parities, 2023 vintage (all-items, goods, services, rents).
Real-wage figures = nominal BLS wage ÷ (state RPP / 100).
See the methodology page for full computation details and limitations.

By Marcus Liang · Founder & Editor · Last synced 2026-05-07.

Cross-comparison: see how Louisiana Plumber pay ranks against the other 254 state × occupation pages on the Real Wage Atlas → — four-way ranking by real wage, after-tax take-home, state-tax savings, and cost-of-living arbitrage.