What Retail Salespersons earn in Vermilion Parish, LA
The median pay for Retail Salespersons in Vermilion Parish, LA is $28,600 per year, which works out to $13.75 per hour. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics wage survey for the Lafayette, LA metropolitan area, the labor market that Vermilion 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 $31,310, which is 9.5% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 5,010 people working in this occupation across the Lafayette, LA metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Vermilion Parish, LA has roughly 57,123 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Retail Salespersons in the Lafayette, LA metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $21,770 a year ($10.47 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $41,730 or more ($20.06 an hour). That is a gap of $19,960 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $23,670 at the 25th percentile and $35,200 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.9 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: $13.75 an hour or $28,600 a year at the median for Vermilion Parish, LA. Before any deductions, that is $2,383 a month, $1,100 every two weeks and $550 each week. After taxes the same job pays $11.84 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Retail Salespersons
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Retail Salespersons this way: "Sell merchandise, such as furniture, motor vehicles, appliances, or apparel to consumers."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Greet customers and ascertain what each customer wants or needs"; "Maintain knowledge of current sales and promotions, policies regarding payment and exchanges, and security practices"; "Compute sales prices, total purchases, and receive and process cash or credit payment"; "Watch for and recognize security risks and thefts and know how to prevent or handle these situations".
Job outlook for Retail Salespersons
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to shrink from 3,998,100 jobs in 2025 to 3,984,100 in 2035, a change of -0.3%, slower than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 520,600 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 13.0% 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 $35,410 for this occupation; the Vermilion Parish, LA median of $28,600 is 19.2% below it.
How pay in Vermilion Parish, LA compares
Compared with the Louisiana average
Pay in Vermilion Parish, LA runs $804 below the Louisiana average of $29,404, a gap of 2.7%. A worker who moved to a better-paying part of Louisiana would, on paper, gain that difference before taxes. Within Louisiana, the highest median we track for this job is $30,400 in Jefferson Parish, LA.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Retail Salespersons is $34,080 across the contiguous United States. At $28,600, Vermilion Parish, LA pays $5,480 less, which is 16.1% 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 Vermilion Parish, LA
Among the 299 occupations with published wages in Vermilion Parish, LA, Retail Salespersons ranks number 269 by median pay, ahead of about 10% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Registered Nurses at $81,960 a year, which is $53,360 more than the median for Retail Salespersons.
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 Retail Salespersons earning the Vermilion Parish, LA median of $28,600, they add up to $3,974. The result is $24,626 of take-home pay a year ($2,052 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $14 goes to taxes and $86 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 13.9%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $12,850. 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 $1,304, an effective 4.6% 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 $1,773 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $415. FICA totals $2,188, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in Louisiana
Louisiana income tax on this salary is $483 a year, or 1.7% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 37% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $40 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 Vermilion Parish, LA
IRS Statistics of Income data for Vermilion Parish, LA show an average adjusted gross income of $63,099 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 10.4% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 4.4%, compared with the 4.6% 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 Vermilion Parish, LA
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Vermilion Parish, LA: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $24,626 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Vermilion Parish, LA, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $826 a month ($9,912 a year), and at $899 for two bedrooms. For Retail Salespersons, a one-bedroom absorbs 40.3% of take-home pay and 34.7% 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 12.0% of gross pay for Retail Salespersons in Vermilion 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 $16,586 a year in Vermilion Parish, LA. Subtract that from $24,626 of take-home pay and $8,040 remains, which is $670 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 28.1% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Vermilion Parish, LA
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Vermilion 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 Vermilion Parish, LA, set beside the Louisiana and national medians.
Property taxes in Vermilion Parish, LA
Homeowners in Vermilion Parish, LA pay a median of $589 a year in real estate taxes, 50% below the Louisiana median of $1,180 and 81% below the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $163,300, the median tax bill is 0.36% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Retail Salespersons median of $28,600, a tax bill of that size would equal 2.1% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Vermilion Parish, LA
Renters in Vermilion Parish, LA pay a median gross rent of $848 a month in the Census survey, 20% below the Louisiana median of $1,064. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $826 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 $163,300, 25% below the Louisiana median of $216,500. Median household income is $55,707, 8% below the Louisiana median of $60,756, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 17.8% of that income.
Commuting in Vermilion Parish, LA
Workers in Vermilion Parish, LA who travel to a workplace spend an average of 30.0 minutes each way, 17% above the Louisiana average of 25.7. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 5.0 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 5.3% of workers in Vermilion Parish, LA work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Retail Salespersons afford to live in Vermilion 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 $28,600 that ceiling is $715 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $826 is $111 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $15.88 an hour; the median for Retail Salespersons is $13.75, which is 13% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $11.84 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 16.1 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $899 a month means $450 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $4,518 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $12,558.
How fast you can save
At $670 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 15 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 30 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Retail Salespersons pay in Vermilion Parish, LA
How much do Retail Salespersons make per hour in Vermilion Parish, LA?
The median is $13.75 per hour, based on $28,600 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $10.47 at the 10th percentile to $20.06 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Retail Salespersons take home after taxes in Vermilion Parish, LA?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $28,600 becomes $24,626 a year. That is $2,052 a month, $947 every two weeks or $474 a week.
How much tax do Retail Salespersons pay in Vermilion Parish, LA?
Total taxes are $3,974 a year, an effective rate of 13.9%: $1,304 federal income tax, $2,188 FICA and $483 Louisiana income tax.
Do Retail Salespersons earn more in Vermilion Parish, LA than elsewhere in Louisiana?
No. The local median of $28,600 is -2.7% versus the Louisiana average of $29,404, a difference of $804 a year.
Can Retail Salespersons afford a one-bedroom apartment in Vermilion Parish, LA?
A one-bedroom costs $826 a month against take-home pay of $2,052, which is 40.3% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $715 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Retail Salespersons in Vermilion Parish, LA?
About $670 a month ($8,040 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $16,586 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Vermilion Parish, LA at the 30% guideline?
$15.88 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $9,912 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Retail Salespersons is $13.75.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Lafayette, 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.