Baton Rouge, LA Salaries
Local wages where BEA prices sit below the US average (RPP 90.8) - BLS OEWS May 2025
Observed metro pay change
What changed, BLS OEWS 2024–2025
- BLS's published All Occupations median in Baton Rouge, LA moved from $47,940 in May 2024 to $48,710 in May 2025 (+1.6%).
- Across the 393 metros priced in both releases, the median place changed +3.1%.
- Baton Rouge, LA sits -1.5 pp behind that median, nominal dollars, no price deflator applied.
Based on wage level, year-over-year wage growth, and regional-price-parity-adjusted purchasing power from BLS and BEA sources, not job availability, industry mix, or day-to-day livability.
Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders shows the widest metro-area vs national median gap in Baton Rouge, LA
Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders publishes $93,920 here versus $58,040 nationally (+61.8%; 2,500metro-area jobs). Next is Waiters and Waitresses at $15,080 locally versus $35,230 nationally (-57.2%).
- Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders$93,920 in Baton Rouge, LA sits 61.8% above the national Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders median of $58,040 (2,500 published local jobs).
- Waiters and Waitresses$15,080 in Baton Rouge, LA sits 57.2% below the national Waiters and Waitresses median of $35,230 (6,650 published local jobs).
- Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers$78,170 in Baton Rouge, LA sits 45.4% above the national Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers median of $53,750 (3,690 published local jobs).
- Lawyers$102,070 in Baton Rouge, LA sits 36.1% below the national Lawyers median of $159,670 (2,300 published local jobs).
Chemical Equipment Operators and Tenders and the other occupations above are descriptive OEWS endpoints for Baton Rouge, LA; they are not findings about taxes, employers, or worker experience.
BLS OEWS metro wage desk
MSA 12940 · Baton Rouge, LA $61K mean
MEAN-MID · RPP-LOW · OCC-MOST · TOP-LEAD · EMP-MIX · TREND-INLINE · PHOTO-FINISH · BOOK-FULL
- MEAN-MID #183/528
- RPP-LOW 90.8
- OCC-MOST 491 occs
- TOP-LEAD Physicians, Al… · $414K
- EMP-MIX Construction…
- TREND-INLINE -1.5 pp
- PHOTO-FINISH Decatur, IL
- BOOK-FULL 478 rows · May 2025
Read with Decatur, IL (+$27 on published-row mean) · Salary vs. cost of living
Instrument codes from this MSA’s OEWS published-row mean, BEA RPP, occupation book, employment lead, All Occupations pay change, and nearest peer, not a moving recommendation.
Published-row mean neighbourhood around Baton Rouge, LA
Where Baton Rouge, LA already employs the upper wage tier
Construction Managers and Financial Managers lead published employment inside Baton Rouge, LA's top-pay sample, order follows OEWS job counts, not median wage.
- 1. Construction Managers 2,170 jobs · $118,770
- 2. Financial Managers 1,770 jobs · $129,310
- 3. Physicians, All Other 1,060 jobs · $413,620
- 4. Nurse Practitioners 1,010 jobs · $129,070
- 5. Pharmacists 960 jobs · $134,680
- 6. Computer and Information Systems Managers 950 jobs · $120,210
- 7. Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels 900 jobs · $129,260
- 8. Industrial Production Managers 690 jobs · $139,860
- 9. Architectural and Engineering Managers 560 jobs · $165,060
- 10. Mechanical Engineers 540 jobs · $135,530
- 11. Industrial Engineers 470 jobs · $129,500
- 12. Dentists, General 430 jobs · $185,430
- 13. Chemical Engineers 360 jobs · $134,800
- 14. Physician Assistants 360 jobs · $130,670
- 15. Electrical Engineers 350 jobs · $133,030
- 16. Environmental Engineers 170 jobs · $138,000
- 17. Veterinarians 160 jobs · $126,890
- 18. Electronics Engineers, Except Computer 160 jobs · $125,260
Occupations Tracked
491
with wage data
Published-Row Mean
$60,611
employment-weighted, 478 complete rows
Top Salary
$413,620
Physicians, All Other
Cost of Living
90.8
9% below US avg
Top-pay occupations in Baton Rouge, LA, by employment
Same top-pay sample as the salary ranking, sorted by published local jobs so the title sequence follows the OEWS mix.
Lowest Paying Jobs in Baton Rouge, LA
| Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|
| Waiters and Waitresses | $15,080 |
| Crossing Guards and Flaggers | $17,780 |
| Bartenders | $20,640 |
| Amusement and Recreation Attendants | $21,380 |
| Food Preparation and Serving Related Workers, All Other | $21,640 |
| Physical Therapist Aides | $21,910 |
| Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers | $22,240 |
| Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop | $22,430 |
| Home Health and Personal Care Aides | $23,040 |
| Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders | $23,600 |
Other BLS Wage Areas in LA
Other metropolitan or nonmetropolitan OEWS areas assigned to the same state. Cross-state pay and employment peers live in Nationwide similar metros below.
Nationwide metros with similar published-row mean pay or employment scale
Two OEWS peer sets outside LA. Same-state wage areas above stay geographic; these neighborhoods are cross-state nearest neighbors on employment-weighted published-row mean wage ($60,611 here) and summed published employment.
Similar mean wage
Nearest other metros by employment-weighted published-row annual mean wage.
Similar employment scale
Nearest headcount peers (floor 100,000 summed published jobs), distinct from the mean-wage column.
Peers are nearest-neighbor matches on BLS OEWS employment-weighted published-row mean wage and summed occupation employment. Employment peers exclude metros already listed in the mean-wage column so the two link sets stay distinct. Mean wage here is not a worker-level median.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the lower price level do to Baton Rouge, LA wage reading? ▼
What is the highest paying job in Baton Rouge, LA? ▼
What jobs pay the least in Baton Rouge, LA? ▼
Which federal tables feed Baton Rouge, LA's wage and price figures? ▼
Related federal data
What to do with this data
How to use Baton Rouge, LA wage figures in a real decision
- Physicians, All Other leads published medians in Baton Rouge, LA at $413,620/year; open the occupation for percentile bands and state rows. Physicians, All Other
- The employment-weighted published-row mean of $60,611 adjusts to about $66,767 on a national-price basis at BEA RPP 90.8. Salary vs cost of living
- Compare this metropolitan statistical area against the statewide occupation table for LA before treating one geography as the other. State wage page
BLS OEWS estimates reflect the May 2025 reference period; small occupation-area cells can be suppressed, and figures are not employer offers.
Source data and WageDex calculations are identified in context on this page. Occupation rows use BLS OEWS May 2025. The metro benchmark is WageDex's employment-weighted mean of published occupation means; where BEA RPP is available, the price-level figure divides that benchmark by the published area parity. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.