Lafayette, LA Salaries
Local wages where BEA prices sit below the US average (RPP 87.2) - BLS OEWS May 2025
Observed metro pay change
What changed, BLS OEWS 2024–2025
- BLS's published All Occupations median in Lafayette, LA moved from $39,600 in May 2024 to $41,780 in May 2025 (+5.5%).
- Across the 393 metros priced in both releases, the median place changed +3.1%.
- Lafayette, LA sits +2.4 pp ahead of 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.
Waiters and Waitresses shows the widest metro-area vs national median gap in Lafayette, LA
Waiters and Waitresses publishes $15,080 here versus $35,230 nationally (-57.2%; 3,410metro-area jobs). Next is Home Health and Personal Care Aides at $21,400 locally versus $35,800 nationally (-40.2%).
- Waiters and Waitresses$15,080 in Lafayette, LA sits 57.2% below the national Waiters and Waitresses median of $35,230 (3,410 published local jobs).
- Home Health and Personal Care Aides$21,400 in Lafayette, LA sits 40.2% below the national Home Health and Personal Care Aides median of $35,800 (5,200 published local jobs).
- Food Preparation Workers$22,920 in Lafayette, LA sits 35.1% below the national Food Preparation Workers median of $35,320 (3,260 published local jobs).
- Fast Food and Counter Workers$22,320 in Lafayette, LA sits 28.5% below the national Fast Food and Counter Workers median of $31,200 (4,480 published local jobs).
Waiters and Waitresses and the other occupations above are descriptive OEWS endpoints for Lafayette, LA; they are not findings about taxes, employers, or worker experience.
BLS OEWS metro wage desk
MSA 29180 · Lafayette, LA $52K mean
MEAN-TRACE · RPP-QUIET · OCC-MID · TOP-LEAD · EMP-MIX · TREND-AHEAD · PHOTO-FINISH · BOOK-FULL
- MEAN-TRACE #452/528
- RPP-QUIET 87.2
- OCC-MID 350 occs
- TOP-LEAD Physicians, Al… · $300K
- EMP-MIX Software Dev…
- TREND-AHEAD +2.4 pp
- PHOTO-FINISH Kansas nonmetrop…
- BOOK-FULL 337 rows · May 2025
Read with Kansas nonmetropolitan area (+$34 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 Lafayette, LA
Where Lafayette, LA already employs the upper wage tier
Software Developers and Lawyers lead published employment inside Lafayette, LA's top-pay sample, order follows OEWS job counts, not median wage.
- 1. Software Developers 660 jobs · $109,010
- 2. Lawyers 650 jobs · $111,160
- 3. Financial Managers 570 jobs · $120,450
- 4. Pharmacists 540 jobs · $132,130
- 5. Nurse Practitioners 480 jobs · $120,930
- 6. Sales Managers 380 jobs · $103,460
- 7. Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels 270 jobs · $116,200
- 8. Occupational Health and Safety Specialists 200 jobs · $104,470
- 9. Dentists, General 190 jobs · $171,860
- 10. Computer and Information Systems Managers 180 jobs · $132,790
- 11. Industrial Production Managers 170 jobs · $118,030
- 12. Chief Executives 140 jobs · $134,660
- 13. Physicians, All Other 130 jobs · $299,990
- 14. Architectural and Engineering Managers 130 jobs · $152,090
- 15. Business Teachers, Postsecondary 110 jobs · $127,840
- 16. Nurse Anesthetists 100 jobs · $216,300
- 17. Physician Assistants 100 jobs · $134,550
- 18. Veterinarians 90 jobs · $124,470
Occupations Tracked
350
with wage data
Published-Row Mean
$51,579
employment-weighted, 337 complete rows
Top Salary
$299,990
Physicians, All Other
Cost of Living
87.2
13% below US avg
Top-pay occupations in Lafayette, LA, by employment
Same top-pay sample as the salary ranking, sorted by published local jobs so the title sequence follows the OEWS mix.
| # | Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Software Developers | $109,010 |
| 2 | Lawyers | $111,160 |
| 3 | Financial Managers | $120,450 |
| 4 | Pharmacists | $132,130 |
| 5 | Nurse Practitioners | $120,930 |
| 6 | Sales Managers | $103,460 |
| 7 | Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels | $116,200 |
| 8 | Occupational Health and Safety Specialists | $104,470 |
| 9 | Dentists, General | $171,860 |
| 10 | Computer and Information Systems Managers | $132,790 |
| 11 | Industrial Production Managers | $118,030 |
| 12 | Chief Executives | $134,660 |
| 13 | Physicians, All Other | $299,990 |
| 14 | Architectural and Engineering Managers | $152,090 |
| 15 | Business Teachers, Postsecondary | $127,840 |
| 16 | Nurse Anesthetists | $216,300 |
| 17 | Physician Assistants | $134,550 |
| 18 | Veterinarians | $124,470 |
| 19 | Human Resources Managers | $107,730 |
| 20 | Industrial Engineers | $117,120 |
| 21 | Marketing Managers | $122,780 |
| 22 | Sales Engineers | $121,680 |
| 23 | Health Specialties Teachers, Postsecondary | $115,850 |
| 24 | Computer Network Architects | $103,760 |
| 25 | General Internal Medicine Physicians | $201,140 |
Lowest Paying Jobs in Lafayette, LA
| Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|
| Waiters and Waitresses | $15,080 |
| Bartenders | $19,070 |
| Food Preparation and Serving Related Workers, All Other | $19,420 |
| Amusement and Recreation Attendants | $20,520 |
| Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers | $21,040 |
| Home Health and Personal Care Aides | $21,400 |
| Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop | $21,650 |
| Childcare Workers | $21,840 |
| Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary | $22,000 |
| Physical Therapist Aides | $22,150 |
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 ($51,579 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 Lafayette, LA wage reading? ▼
What is the highest paying job in Lafayette, LA? ▼
What jobs pay the least in Lafayette, LA? ▼
Which federal tables feed Lafayette, LA's wage and price figures? ▼
Related federal data
What to do with this data
How to use Lafayette, LA wage figures in a real decision
- Physicians, All Other leads published medians in Lafayette, LA at $299,990/year; open the occupation for percentile bands and state rows. Physicians, All Other
- The employment-weighted published-row mean of $51,579 adjusts to about $59,144 on a national-price basis at BEA RPP 87.2. 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.