New Orleans-Metairie, LA Salaries
Highest published occupation medians in New Orleans-Metairie, LA - BLS OEWS May 2025
Observed metro pay change
What changed, BLS OEWS 2024–2025
- BLS's published All Occupations median in New Orleans-Metairie, LA moved from $45,970 in May 2024 to $47,290 in May 2025 (+2.9%).
- Across the 393 metros priced in both releases, the median place changed +3.1%.
- New Orleans-Metairie, LA sits -0.2 pp near that median, nominal dollars, no price deflator applied.
Waiters and Waitresses shows the widest metro-area vs national median gap in New Orleans-Metairie, LA
Waiters and Waitresses publishes $16,640 here versus $35,230 nationally (-52.8%; 10,050metro-area jobs). Next is Bartenders at $21,230 locally versus $34,340 nationally (-38.2%).
- Waiters and Waitresses$16,640 in New Orleans-Metairie, LA sits 52.8% below the national Waiters and Waitresses median of $35,230 (10,050 published local jobs).
- Bartenders$21,230 in New Orleans-Metairie, LA sits 38.2% below the national Bartenders median of $34,340 (4,200 published local jobs).
- Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers$48,970 in New Orleans-Metairie, LA sits 35.7% below the national Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers median of $76,210 (2,040 published local jobs).
- Home Health and Personal Care Aides$23,650 in New Orleans-Metairie, LA sits 33.9% below the national Home Health and Personal Care Aides median of $35,800 (6,600 published local jobs).
Waiters and Waitresses and the other occupations above are descriptive OEWS endpoints for New Orleans-Metairie, LA; they are not findings about taxes, employers, or worker experience.
BLS OEWS metro wage desk
MSA 35380 · New Orleans-Metairie, LA $60K mean
MEAN-MID · RPP-LOW · OCC-MOST · TOP-LEAD · EMP-MIX · TREND-INLINE · PHOTO-FINISH · BOOK-FULL
- MEAN-MID #193/528
- RPP-LOW 92.6
- OCC-MOST 504 occs
- TOP-LEAD Emergency Medi… · $336K
- EMP-MIX Financial Ma…
- TREND-INLINE -0.2 pp
- PHOTO-FINISH Pueblo, CO
- BOOK-FULL 489 rows · May 2025
Read with Pueblo, CO ($39 on published-row mean) · Highest-paying careers
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 New Orleans-Metairie, LA
Employment scale inside New Orleans-Metairie, LA's top-pay list
Financial Managers and Physicians, All Other lead published employment inside New Orleans-Metairie, LA's top-pay sample — order follows OEWS job counts, not median wage.
- 1. Financial Managers 1,970 jobs · $134,110
- 2. Physicians, All Other 1,910 jobs · $326,440
- 3. Pharmacists 1,470 jobs · $128,100
- 4. Computer and Information Systems Managers 800 jobs · $131,570
- 5. Industrial Production Managers 580 jobs · $147,980
- 6. Architectural and Engineering Managers 560 jobs · $165,620
- 7. Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products 510 jobs · $127,030
- 8. Industrial Engineers 460 jobs · $127,340
- 9. Petroleum Engineers 320 jobs · $148,390
- 10. Dentists, General 270 jobs · $198,050
- 11. Family Medicine Physicians 250 jobs · $332,690
- 12. Marketing Managers 250 jobs · $126,740
- 13. Business Teachers, Postsecondary 240 jobs · $137,540
- 14. Ship Engineers 230 jobs · $132,710
- 15. Veterinarians 200 jobs · $128,360
- 16. Nurse Anesthetists 190 jobs · $216,280
- 17. Chemical Engineers 190 jobs · $136,870
- 18. Emergency Medicine Physicians 140 jobs · $336,290
Occupations Tracked
504
with wage data
Published-Row Mean
$60,202
employment-weighted, 489 complete rows
Top Salary
$336,290
Emergency Medicine Physicians
Cost of Living
92.6
7% below US avg
Highest Paying Jobs in New Orleans-Metairie, LA
| # | Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Emergency Medicine Physicians | $336,290 |
| 2 | Family Medicine Physicians | $332,690 |
| 3 | Physicians, All Other | $326,440 |
| 4 | Nurse Anesthetists | $216,280 |
| 5 | Dentists, General | $198,050 |
| 6 | Architectural and Engineering Managers | $165,620 |
| 7 | Aerospace Engineers | $149,430 |
| 8 | Petroleum Engineers | $148,390 |
| 9 | Industrial Production Managers | $147,980 |
| 10 | Business Teachers, Postsecondary | $137,540 |
| 11 | Chemical Engineers | $136,870 |
| 12 | Optometrists | $136,200 |
| 13 | Commercial Pilots | $135,950 |
| 14 | Financial Managers | $134,110 |
| 15 | Sales Engineers | $133,010 |
| 16 | Ship Engineers | $132,710 |
| 17 | Computer and Information Systems Managers | $131,570 |
| 18 | Natural Sciences Managers | $129,960 |
| 19 | Purchasing Managers | $128,670 |
| 20 | Veterinarians | $128,360 |
| 21 | Pharmacists | $128,100 |
| 22 | Industrial Engineers | $127,340 |
| 23 | Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products | $127,030 |
| 24 | Marketing Managers | $126,740 |
| 25 | Computer Network Architects | $126,260 |
Lowest Paying Jobs in New Orleans-Metairie, LA
| Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|
| Waiters and Waitresses | $16,640 |
| Bartenders | $21,230 |
| Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop | $23,060 |
| Gambling Change Persons and Booth Cashiers | $23,280 |
| Food Preparation and Serving Related Workers, All Other | $23,420 |
| Home Health and Personal Care Aides | $23,650 |
| Parking Attendants | $23,920 |
| Cooks, Short Order | $24,720 |
| Lifeguards, Ski Patrol, and Other Recreational Protective Service Workers | $24,960 |
| School Bus Monitors | $25,070 |
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 ($60,202 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.