Lake Charles, LA Salaries
Local wages where BEA prices sit below the US average (RPP 85.9) - BLS OEWS May 2025
Observed metro pay change
What changed, BLS OEWS 2024–2025
- BLS's published All Occupations median in Lake Charles, LA moved from $45,170 in May 2024 to $45,700 in May 2025 (+1.2%).
- Across the 393 metros priced in both releases, the median place changed +3.1%.
- Lake Charles, LA sits -1.9 pp behind that median, nominal dollars, no price deflator applied.
Home Health and Personal Care Aides shows the widest metro-area vs national median gap in Lake Charles, LA
Home Health and Personal Care Aides publishes $23,000 here versus $35,800 nationally (-35.8%; 2,140metro-area jobs). Next is Fast Food and Counter Workers at $22,500 locally versus $31,200 nationally (-27.9%).
- Home Health and Personal Care Aides$23,000 in Lake Charles, LA sits 35.8% below the national Home Health and Personal Care Aides median of $35,800 (2,140 published local jobs).
- Fast Food and Counter Workers$22,500 in Lake Charles, LA sits 27.9% below the national Fast Food and Counter Workers median of $31,200 (2,350 published local jobs).
- Retail Salespersons$28,780 in Lake Charles, LA sits 18.7% below the national Retail Salespersons median of $35,410 (2,620 published local jobs).
- Cashiers$27,480 in Lake Charles, LA sits 16.4% below the national Cashiers median of $32,880 (2,840 published local jobs).
Home Health and Personal Care Aides and the other occupations above are descriptive OEWS endpoints for Lake Charles, LA; they are not findings about taxes, employers, or worker experience.
BLS OEWS metro wage desk
MSA 29340 · Lake Charles, LA $55K mean
MEAN-LOW · RPP-QUIET · OCC-MID · TOP-LEAD · EMP-MIX · TREND-INLINE · PHOTO-FINISH · BOOK-MOST
- MEAN-LOW #348/528
- RPP-QUIET 85.9
- OCC-MID 276 occs
- TOP-LEAD Physicians, Al… · $284K
- EMP-MIX Managers, Al…
- TREND-INLINE -1.9 pp
- PHOTO-FINISH East-Central Mon…
- BOOK-MOST 273 rows · May 2025
Read with East-Central Montana nonmetropolitan area (+$11 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 Lake Charles, LA
Where Lake Charles, LA already employs the upper wage tier
Managers, All Other and Chemical Plant and System Operators lead published employment inside Lake Charles, LA's top-pay sample — order follows OEWS job counts, not median wage.
- 1. Managers, All Other 800 jobs · $103,550
- 2. Chemical Plant and System Operators 740 jobs · $102,310
- 3. Construction Managers 360 jobs · $108,590
- 4. Lawyers 350 jobs · $101,690
- 5. Financial Managers 240 jobs · $123,450
- 6. Pharmacists 220 jobs · $133,720
- 7. Industrial Production Managers 200 jobs · $136,800
- 8. Industrial Engineers 180 jobs · $129,260
- 9. Nurse Practitioners 180 jobs · $128,460
- 10. Chemists 180 jobs · $128,330
- 11. Sales Managers 160 jobs · $124,580
- 12. Architectural and Engineering Managers 150 jobs · $191,250
- 13. Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels 150 jobs · $119,630
- 14. Mechanical Engineers 110 jobs · $126,090
- 15. Chemical Engineers 100 jobs · $136,810
- 16. Software Developers 100 jobs · $120,940
- 17. Dentists, General 90 jobs · $114,470
- 18. Electrical Engineers 70 jobs · $129,940
Occupations Tracked
276
with wage data
Published-Row Mean
$55,238
employment-weighted, 273 complete rows
Top Salary
$284,440
Physicians, All Other
Cost of Living
85.9
14% below US avg
Top-pay occupations in Lake Charles, 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 | Managers, All Other | $103,550 |
| 2 | Chemical Plant and System Operators | $102,310 |
| 3 | Construction Managers | $108,590 |
| 4 | Lawyers | $101,690 |
| 5 | Financial Managers | $123,450 |
| 6 | Pharmacists | $133,720 |
| 7 | Industrial Production Managers | $136,800 |
| 8 | Industrial Engineers | $129,260 |
| 9 | Nurse Practitioners | $128,460 |
| 10 | Chemists | $128,330 |
| 11 | Sales Managers | $124,580 |
| 12 | Architectural and Engineering Managers | $191,250 |
| 13 | Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels | $119,630 |
| 14 | Mechanical Engineers | $126,090 |
| 15 | Chemical Engineers | $136,810 |
| 16 | Software Developers | $120,940 |
| 17 | Dentists, General | $114,470 |
| 18 | Electrical Engineers | $129,940 |
| 19 | Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors | $125,670 |
| 20 | Computer and Information Systems Managers | $112,460 |
| 21 | Physicians, All Other | $284,440 |
| 22 | Veterinarians | $115,210 |
| 23 | Chief Executives | $108,200 |
| 24 | Human Resources Managers | $105,370 |
| 25 | Physician Assistants | $127,160 |
Lowest Paying Jobs in Lake Charles, LA
| Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|
| Gambling Dealers | $15,080 |
| Waiters and Waitresses | $15,080 |
| Bartenders | $18,280 |
| Food Preparation and Serving Related Workers, All Other | $20,470 |
| Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers | $20,770 |
| Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop | $20,930 |
| Gambling Change Persons and Booth Cashiers | $21,580 |
| Childcare Workers | $21,820 |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | $22,500 |
| Home Health and Personal Care Aides | $23,000 |
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 ($55,238 here) and summed published employment.
Similar mean wage
Nearest other metros by employment-weighted published-row annual mean wage.
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.