Revealed: This is the Average Salary in Louisiana

If you ask anyone in Louisiana what they think about economic opportunity you'll probably get a variety of answers. Folks in inner-city New Orleans probably have one view of economic opportunity while a resident of rural Grant Parish might think a little differently.

From Baton Rouge to Bogalusa and Holly Beach to Serepta folks in Louisiana work hard for their money. But how does that money earned compare to our next-door neighbors in Texas or Arkansas or the perennial dumpster fire that is Mississippi?

The folks at SoFi have crunched the numbers from the Social Security Administration and determined that the average salary in the United States is $63,795.00 annually. Based on that information you're either feeling pretty good about what you earn or you're suddenly feeling frustrated because you work harder than "an average worker".

The first thing to consider in the $63,795.00 figure is that is for the United States as a whole. That includes places where the cost of living is a lot higher than what we pay in Louisiana and the Gulf South. Unfortunately, there aren't too many places that pay much lower than we do but we aren't at the bottom.

Just as a point of clarity, you often hear the terms "average salary" and "median salary". While they sound like they should be the same, they aren't. With averages, you have to consider the extreme highs and the extreme lows. For example, if you have a lot of billionaires in your state, that state's average salary could be skewed higher.

Meanwhile, a median salary is the middle value of all salaries in a specific industry or job category. This figure is affected less by outliers such as extreme wealth and extreme poverty. For example, the median salary in the United States is listed at $59,384.00 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And you can see that is a few thousand dollars less than the $63,795.00 that is the SSA average for the U.S.

What is the Average Salary In Louisiana?

This won't surprise anyone but we are nowhere near the top when it comes to discussing this data. The places with the highest average salaries are the places with the highest cost of living. Namley, Massachusettes, New York, Washington, California, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Maryland.

If you're looking for Louisiana, look lower. A lot lower in fact you'll find Mississippi, West Virginia, Arkansas, and Alabama beneath us in that category. So, how much money are we talking about? The average salary in Louisiana according to Sofi is $53,435. The median salary in Louisiana is listed at $53,821.

For comparison in Massachusetts, the average salary is $80,330, and the average salary in Mississippi is $47,569. That's a pretty big difference. But if you suddenly feel motivated to move to a place where you could earn more money, just know, most of the time that comes with a higher cost of living.

Perhaps, we should look at quality of life over how much money we make to earn a living. You can certainly find happiness without a lot of zeroes in your bank account. It's all in how you look at it. Money can't buy happiness but it certainly can distract you while you're miserable.

Just as a side note, tonight's Powerball is $142 million if you really want to mess up the averages. Good Luck, I will see you at work in the morning.