Louisiana Paycheck Calculator & Income Tax Rates (2026)

Louisiana taxes all taxable income at a single 3% rate. The only thing that changes your bill is the deduction that comes off the top first.

With a flat state rate the marginal state rate is constant, but the overall effective rate still rises because federal brackets are progressive.

Louisiana's joint deduction are the same as single brackets, so the marriage effect here comes from the deduction and the federal side. On $100,000 a joint return keeps $82,460 versus $76,500 for a single filer.

Louisiana rebuilt its income tax in a November 2024 special session. Act 11 repealed the three graduated brackets (1.85%, 3.5%, 4.25%) and replaced them with a single 3% rate on all taxable income effective January 1, 2025, and that rate carries into tax year 2026. It is the lowest rate of any Southern state with an income tax and one of the lowest in the country. The same law nearly tripled the standard deduction to $12,500 single and $25,000 joint, indexed to inflation beginning in 2026, doubled the retirement exemption for taxpayers 65 and older, and folded the old exemptions for dependents, the blind, and those over 65 into the larger deduction. The trade-off was consumption: the state sales tax rose from 4.45% to 5% the same day. Louisiana's constitution caps the individual income tax rate at 4.75%, a limit voters adopted in 2021 when they also dropped the old requirement that federal income taxes be deductible on the state return.

The standard deduction is $12,500 for single filers and $25,000 for joint filers and heads of household, indexed from 2026. Act 11 folded the old exemptions for dependents, the blind, and taxpayers over 65 into that larger deduction. Louisiana allows no general itemized deductions, only medical expenses above the federal standard deduction. The federal income tax deduction ended after 2021. Credits include a school readiness credit and a state EITC worth 5% of the federal credit.

No parish, city, or school board in Louisiana levies an income or payroll tax; local governments fund themselves through sales and property taxes instead. The 3% state rate is the only income tax a Louisiana resident pays, whether in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, or Shreveport.

Louisiana has the highest combined sales tax in the nation. The state rate went to 5% on January 1, 2025 (scheduled to fall to 4.75% in 2030), and parish and municipal rates average about 5% on top, so combined rates of 9.5% to 10.5% are typical — a flat 10% in New Orleans. The state exempts groceries, prescription drugs, and residential utilities, but most parishes tax groceries at the local rate, so food is not tax-free at the register.

Property taxes are among the lowest in the country — effective rates around 0.55% of market value. The homestead exemption shields the first $75,000 of a primary residence's market value ($7,500 of assessed value at the 10% assessment ratio) from parish taxes, though not from municipal taxes outside Orleans Parish. Homeowners 65 and older with income below an indexed threshold can freeze their assessed value permanently. Insurance premiums, not property taxes, are the housing cost squeezing Louisiana homeowners.

Social Security is exempt. So are pensions from Louisiana state and local retirement systems (LASERS, TRSL, parish and municipal systems), federal civil service, and military retirement — fully, with no cap. For everything else — private pensions, 401(k) and 403(b) withdrawals, traditional IRA distributions, annuities — taxpayers 65 and older can exclude up to $12,000 per person, an amount Act 11 doubled from $6,000 for 2025 and indexed to inflation starting in 2026. Above that, retirement income is taxed at the 3% flat rate. A retired teacher pays nothing on her TRSL pension; a retired oil-company engineer drawing $60,000 from a 401(k) pays 3% on the portion above $12,000.

Middle- and upper-income W-2 earners gain the most from the 2025 overhaul: a single filer earning $120,000 now pays 3% on income above $12,500, versus nearly 4% blended under the old brackets. Retired public employees and military retirees pay nothing on their pensions. Dual-income couples get a joint deduction exactly double the single one and a flat rate — no marriage penalty. Remote workers and the self-employed owe no local tax anywhere in the state. The losers are heavy spenders: a 10% combined sales tax, groceries included in most parishes, claws back part of the savings for lower-income households.

The median household income in Louisiana is $49,000, which is $40,457 a year ($3,371 a month) after all taxes. That is below the national median, though Louisiana's low cost of living stretches each dollar further than the raw figure suggests. After adjusting for cost of living, the purchasing power of that take-home is equivalent to $44,458 in an average-cost area.

Louisiana ranks #13 of 50 for raw take-home pay and #15 for cost-adjusted purchasing power at $100,000. The 2-place gap between the two reflects a below-average cost of living that boosts real purchasing power. The best state (Alaska) leaves $79,125; the worst (Oregon) leaves $70,932. Louisiana is $2,625 behind the leader.

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