Licensed Practical Nurse Salary in Louisiana 2026,
$57,470 Median | BLS Data by City

A median $57,470 a year, or $27.63 an hour, per BLS OEWS May 2025, with the middle half between $49,650 and $61,220 and a full range of $45,810 to $66,150. That is 10.8% below the $64,400 national median, and only the state's 90th percentile clears the national figure.

New Orleans-Metairie at $60,640, followed by Baton Rouge at $59,700, Slidell-Mandeville-Covington at $59,500, Shreveport-Bossier City at $58,340 and Hammond at $55,840. The spread of about forty-eight hundred dollars is modest, so setting — hospital against long-term care — will move your pay more than the parish does.

Through the Louisiana State Board of Practical Nurse Examiners, a dedicated board separate from the Board of Nursing that only a handful of states still maintain. You complete a board-approved practical nursing programme and pass the NCLEX-PN, with continuing education required for renewal. Louisiana participates in the Nurse Licensure Compact, and IV therapy and other expanded functions carry their own board requirements.

A location quotient of 2.18 — more than twice the national rate per worker, the highest concentration in this entire batch — reflects a care delivery model built around practical nurses. Louisiana's long-term care sector is large, its rural parishes rely on clinic staffing that registered nurses do not fully cover, and the state's chronic disease burden generates substantial ongoing care needs. Where most states have shifted toward registered nurse staffing, Louisiana has not to the same degree.

Financially the case is strong, and it is the standard progression here. The LPN band tops out at $66,150 and only its 90th percentile reaches the national LPN median, so the ceiling arrives early. LPN-to-RN bridge programmes are widely available in Louisiana and the practical nursing licence and experience both count toward them. Given how large the practical nursing workforce is in this state, employers are generally familiar with supporting that transition.

Both security and a ceiling. With about 17,600 posts at more than twice the national rate per worker, a Louisiana LPN will not struggle to find work — the roughly 1,480 annual openings figure reflects replacement demand from a workforce that large, and long-term care, home health and rural clinic employers hire continuously. That is genuine job security in a way it is not for practical nurses in states shifting toward registered nurse staffing. The other side is that abundant supply and a heavy long-term care mix hold the wage down: the median sits 10.8% below the national figure and only the top decile clears it. Security and a low ceiling are the same fact viewed twice.

Differentials and setting. Practical nursing in long-term care and hospital settings runs on shifts, and night, weekend and holiday premiums are a real part of what Louisiana LPNs actually earn — none of it in a base annual median. The figure also blends long-term care, home health, clinic and hospital employment, which pay differently and demand different things; hospital posts sit toward the top of this band and long-term care toward the middle. And it does not separate part-time from full-time work.

IV therapy and expanded function certification first, because they determine which settings can employ you and are the clearest credential step within the licence. Setting second: hospital and specialty posts pay above long-term care, and charge or unit lead responsibility adds more — together these reach the $61,220 seventy-fifth percentile and the $66,150 ninetieth. Shift differentials are worth negotiating explicitly. Geography contributes about forty-eight hundred dollars. And the structural answer, in a band with this ceiling, is the LPN-to-RN bridge.