What Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand earn in East Baton Rouge Parish, LA
The median pay for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand in East Baton Rouge Parish, LA is $36,450 per year, which works out to $17.52 per hour. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics wage survey for the Baton Rouge, LA metropolitan area, the labor market that East Baton Rouge Parish, LA belongs to. Half of the workers in this occupation earn more than the median and half earn less, which makes it a sturdier yardstick than an average that a few very high earners can pull upward.
The mean wage is $36,750, which is 0.8% above the median, so pay is spread fairly evenly. The survey counts about 8,760 people working in this occupation across the Baton Rouge, LA metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. East Baton Rouge Parish, LA has roughly 452,938 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand in the Baton Rouge, LA metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $22,580 a year ($10.86 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $47,250 or more ($22.72 an hour). That is a gap of $24,670 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $29,650 at the 25th percentile and $44,820 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 2.1 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Employers quote this occupation by the hour or by the year, so here are both: $17.52 an hour or $36,450 a year at the median for East Baton Rouge Parish, LA. Before any deductions, that is $3,038 a month, $1,402 every two weeks and $701 each week. After taxes the same job pays $14.76 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand this way: "Manually move freight, stock, luggage, or other materials, or perform other general labor. Includes all manual laborers not elsewhere classified."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Read work orders or receive oral instructions to determine work assignments or material or equipment needs"; "Move freight, stock, or other materials to and from storage or production areas, loading docks, delivery vehicles, ships, or containers, by hand or using trucks, tractors, or other equipment"; "Maintain equipment storage areas to ensure that inventory is protected".
Job outlook for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 2,940,300 jobs in 2025 to 2,991,900 in 2035, a change of +1.8%, slower than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 340,500 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 11.6% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: no formal educational credential. Typical on-the-job training to reach competency: short-term on-the-job training. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $40,240 for this occupation; the East Baton Rouge Parish, LA median of $36,450 is 9.4% below it.
How pay in East Baton Rouge Parish, LA compares
Compared with the Louisiana average
A worker in this occupation in East Baton Rouge Parish, LA earns $1,240 more than the Louisiana average of $35,210, a premium of 3.5%. Over a year that premium is worth $1,240 before tax and roughly $1,044 after tax. Within Louisiana, East Baton Rouge Parish, LA already has the highest median we track for this job.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand is $41,056 across the contiguous United States. At $36,450, East Baton Rouge Parish, LA pays $4,606 less, which is 11.2% below that benchmark. Keep in mind that a higher salary only helps if living costs do not rise faster, which is why the cost sections below matter as much as the headline number.
Where this job ranks in East Baton Rouge Parish, LA
Among the 425 occupations with published wages in East Baton Rouge Parish, LA, Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand ranks number 347 by median pay, ahead of about 18% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is General and Operations Managers at $107,140 a year, which is $70,690 more than the median for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand.
From gross pay to take-home pay
Three separate tax bills sit between the gross salary and the bank account: federal income tax, FICA, and state income tax. For Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand earning the East Baton Rouge Parish, LA median of $36,450, they add up to $5,752. The result is $30,698 of take-home pay a year ($2,558 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $16 goes to taxes and $84 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 15.8%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $20,700. Federal brackets are marginal, so only the slice of income above each threshold is taxed at the higher rate; the last dollars of this salary fall in the 12% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $2,246, an effective 6.2% of gross pay, well below the 12% marginal rate because the lower brackets are cheaper.
Social Security and Medicare (FICA)
Payroll taxes are a flat percentage of wages. Social Security takes 6.2% up to a wage base of $176,100, which costs $2,260 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $529. FICA totals $2,788, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in Louisiana
Louisiana income tax on this salary is $719 a year, or 2.0% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 32% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $60 a month. Local taxes such as county or city income taxes are not included, so a few jurisdictions may withhold slightly more.
A cross-check with IRS data for East Baton Rouge Parish, LA
IRS Statistics of Income data for East Baton Rouge Parish, LA show an average adjusted gross income of $84,175 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 14.7% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 4.3%, compared with the 6.2% estimated here for a single filer taking the standard deduction. Gaps between the two reflect filing status, dependents, credits and other income, none of which a single-person wage estimate includes.
Cost of living in East Baton Rouge Parish, LA
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in East Baton Rouge Parish, LA: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $30,698 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For East Baton Rouge Parish, LA, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $1,014 a month ($12,168 a year), and at $1,149 for two bedrooms. For Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand, a one-bedroom absorbs 39.6% of take-home pay and 33.4% of gross pay.
Food
The USDA Thrifty Food Plan (August 2026) puts the cost of a nutritious home-cooked diet for an adult at about $3,436 a year, which is $286 a month or $66.07 a week. That equals 9.4% of gross pay for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand in East Baton Rouge Parish, LA. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Louisiana residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,239 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $654, for $1,893 in total. Gasoline in Louisiana averages $2.91 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,345.
What is left over
Rent, food, energy and gasoline cost $18,842 a year in East Baton Rouge Parish, LA. Subtract that from $30,698 of take-home pay and $11,856 remains, which is $988 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 32.5% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for East Baton Rouge Parish, LA
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in East Baton Rouge Parish, LA: property taxes, housing prices and the daily commute. The figures below are exact U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates for East Baton Rouge Parish, LA, set beside the Louisiana and national medians.
Property taxes in East Baton Rouge Parish, LA
Homeowners in East Baton Rouge Parish, LA pay a median of $1,656 a year in real estate taxes, 40% above the Louisiana median of $1,180 and 47% below the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $248,800, the median tax bill is 0.67% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand median of $36,450, a tax bill of that size would equal 4.5% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in East Baton Rouge Parish, LA
Renters in East Baton Rouge Parish, LA pay a median gross rent of $1,147 a month in the Census survey, 8% above the Louisiana median of $1,064. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,014 a month; the two measures differ because the Census figure covers units of every size that renters already occupy, while the HUD figure is a one-bedroom benchmark. The median value of an owner-occupied home is $248,800, 15% above the Louisiana median of $216,500. Median household income is $63,071, 4% above the Louisiana median of $60,756, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 19.3% of that income.
Commuting in East Baton Rouge Parish, LA
Workers in East Baton Rouge Parish, LA who travel to a workplace spend an average of 23.6 minutes each way, 8% below the Louisiana average of 25.7. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 3.9 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 8.6% of workers in East Baton Rouge Parish, LA work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand afford to live in East Baton Rouge Parish, LA?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $36,450 that ceiling is $911 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,014 is $103 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $19.50 an hour; the median for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand is $17.52, which is 10% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $14.76 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 15.9 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,149 a month means $575 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $5,274 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $17,130.
How fast you can save
At $988 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 11 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 22 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand pay in East Baton Rouge Parish, LA
How much do Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand make per hour in East Baton Rouge Parish, LA?
The median is $17.52 per hour, based on $36,450 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $10.86 at the 10th percentile to $22.72 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand take home after taxes in East Baton Rouge Parish, LA?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $36,450 becomes $30,698 a year. That is $2,558 a month, $1,181 every two weeks or $590 a week.
How much tax do Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand pay in East Baton Rouge Parish, LA?
Total taxes are $5,752 a year, an effective rate of 15.8%: $2,246 federal income tax, $2,788 FICA and $719 Louisiana income tax.
Do Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand earn more in East Baton Rouge Parish, LA than elsewhere in Louisiana?
Yes. The local median of $36,450 is +3.5% versus the Louisiana average of $35,210, a difference of $1,240 a year.
Can Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand afford a one-bedroom apartment in East Baton Rouge Parish, LA?
A one-bedroom costs $1,014 a month against take-home pay of $2,558, which is 39.6% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $911 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand in East Baton Rouge Parish, LA?
About $988 a month ($11,856 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $18,842 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in East Baton Rouge Parish, LA at the 30% guideline?
$19.50 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $12,168 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand is $17.52.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Baton Rouge, LA metropolitan area; hourly-only values are annualized at 2,080 hours. Rents are HUD Fair Market Rents, food costs come from the USDA Thrifty Food Plan, and energy prices come from the Energy Information Administration. County-level tax statistics come from the IRS Statistics of Income.
Taxes use tax-year 2025 federal brackets, FICA rates and the Louisiana rules for a single filer with wage income only. Figures are estimates for planning and comparison, not tax or financial advice, and they exclude local income taxes, benefits, retirement contributions and individual circumstances.