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.
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
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Related federal data
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.