Laundry and dry-cleaning workers job market in Louisiana

Industry trends, wages and hiring signals.

The headline

Industry employment fell while average weekly industry wages rose

A data-driven view of the industries that employ Laundry and dry-cleaning workers in Louisiana.

Verified QCEW 2026 Q1January to March 2026 · State coverage 99.5% · BLS QCEWCitationEvidence record

Occupation pay

What Laundry and dry-cleaning workers earn in Louisiana

BLS OEWS occupation-level pay estimates for this role — separate from the industry wage trends used elsewhere in this report.

BLS OEWS source

Median annual wage

$27,460Louisiana
Middle 50% of published wages
$22,970 – $30,250
U.S. median annual wage
$34,890
Reference period
May 2025

The middle 50% is the 25th-to-75th percentile wage range, not an experience-level band. Suppressed or unavailable BLS values remain unpublished rather than being estimated.

Pay around Louisiana

How median pay varies by metro area

Published BLS OEWS metro estimates for Laundry and dry-cleaning workers, compared with the Louisiana median of $27,460.

Louisiana median$27,460
New Orleans-Metairie, LA$29,960+9.1% vs. state
Middle 50%$27,190 – $34,070Published employment870
Slidell-Mandeville-Covington, LA$28,000+2.0% vs. state
Middle 50%$25,710 – $36,530Published employment150
Baton Rouge, LA$27,870+1.5% vs. state
Middle 50%$22,890 – $29,500Published employment430
Shreveport-Bossier City, LA$27,510+0.2% vs. state
Middle 50%$23,120 – $30,920Published employment350
Lake Charles, LA$27,460Same as state at displayed precision
Middle 50%$23,470 – $27,970Published employment170
Lafayette, LA$26,710−2.7% vs. state
Middle 50%$22,760 – $28,400Published employment300
View 4 more published metro areas
Monroe, LA$25,880−5.8% vs. state
Middle 50%$22,390 – $28,520Published employment140
Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, LA$24,780−9.8% vs. state
Middle 50%$23,250 – $27,180Published employment90
Hammond, LA$23,660−13.8% vs. state
Middle 50%$21,400 – $27,530Published employment50
Alexandria, LA$23,320−15.1% vs. state
Middle 50%$22,740 – $27,230Published employment100

Areas are ordered by published median wage for readability, not as an overall job-market ranking. The vertical marker is the Louisiana median. Some BLS metropolitan areas cross state lines, so a metro estimate can cover workers in more than one state.

Verified snapshot

Market at a Glance

Key changes in Louisiana’s weighted industry mix.

-0.1%Industry employmentLouisiana industry employmentU.S. +0.4%vs. +0.4% U.S.
+2.3%Establishments in weighted industriesLouisiana establishments in weighted industriesU.S. +2.7%vs. +2.7% U.S.
+2.6%Avg. weekly industry wageLouisiana avg. weekly industry wageU.S. +3.1% · not occupation payvs. +3.1% U.S. · not occupation pay
-0.5 ppGap vs. U.S. industry employmentState minus U.S. industry employment change

Percentage-point gaps use the original published values and are rounded once; subtracting the rounded percentages can give a slightly different result.

Published coverage: 46,676 represented establishments, 89.01% of the published industry mix.

Local research

What the data shows for laundry and dry-cleaning workers in Louisiana

Findings describe the published observation periods shown below. Research published Oct 10, 2026.

Published median pay is below the U.S. median

Median annual pay in Louisiana stands 21.3% below the U.S. estimate for laundry and dry-cleaning workers. The underlying OEWS May 2025 figures are $27,460 for the state and $34,890 nationally. This is a nominal wage comparison; living costs and individual pay differences are outside its scope.

OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWS

Private education and health services has the largest positive weighted contribution

Private education and health services supplies 65.3% of the positive weighted contributions to this occupation's industry employment-growth proxy in Louisiana in January to March 2026. Its own year-over-year employment change was +0.8%. Each leading industry group is weighted by its share of the occupation's national industry mix, and the groups examined cover 98.2% of that mix. These contributions do not count occupation jobs created.

January to March 2026 · BLS QCEW

Pay differs widely between metro areas

Published metro pay varies substantially across the 10 comparable areas associated with Louisiana in OEWS May 2025. Median wages range from $23,320 in Alexandria, LA to $29,960 in New Orleans-Metairie, LA; the upper figure is 28.5% higher. Higher nominal pay alone does not account for living costs or job availability.

OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWS

Metro estimates may include areas in neighboring states. The comparison covers published metro estimates, not every part of the state.

Industry measures describe the industries associated with this occupation. They are not direct occupation employment, current openings or a state-level Job Market Health score. Findings describe published data and do not establish causes. Methodology

Employment trends

Year-over-year change in the weighted industries. The U.S. line is the latest-quarter benchmark because a comparable national quarterly history is not published here.

Latest published values
  • Louisiana · 2026 Q1-0.1%
  • U.S. · latest-quarter benchmark+0.4%

The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.

View every published value
Quarterly Louisiana industry employment changes and coverage
QuarterLouisianaCoverage
2024 Q2+2.0%100%
2024 Q3+2.5%100%
2024 Q4+1.8%100%
2025 Q1+1.7%99.65%
2025 Q2+1.6%100%
2025 Q3+0.6%100%
2025 Q40.0%100%
2026 Q1-0.1%99.5%

How to read this chart

State trend and national reference

The solid line follows Louisiana’s published year-over-year industry employment changes by quarter. The dashed U.S. line is a latest-quarter reference, not a second time series.

Published quarters
8
Earliest quarter
2024 Q2
Latest quarter
2026 Q1
U.S. benchmark
+0.4%

Quarters with no published value are omitted rather than interpolated.

Industry context

Where Laundry and dry-cleaning workers Work

The occupation mix determines which Louisiana industries are weighted into this view.

Industries weighted into the Louisiana Laundry and dry-cleaning workers context
Industry groupOccupation mixEmployment changeEstablishmentsAvg. weekly industry wage
Other services49.5%-0.3%10,096$991
Leisure and hospitality21.7%+0.2%15,561$538
Private education and health services17.1%+0.8%21,019$1,126
Professional and business services6.3%-2.1%34,035$1,537
State and local1.9%-0.5%4,771$1,066
Financial activities1.7%+1.2%15,546$1,768

Which industries are growing?

3 weighted industries are growing

Only weighted industries with a published positive Louisiana employment change are listed.

  • Financial activities+1.2%
  • Private education and health services+0.8%
  • Leisure and hospitality+0.2%

The remaining weighted industries published a flat or negative change in January to March 2026.

Current Louisiana context

Current Louisiana Market Signals

Statewide indicators for all occupations in Louisiana. They are not Laundry and dry-cleaning workers demand and are not part of the Job Market Health score.

Statewide job postings

Indeed job postings · Louisiana

Recent hiring-demand context · separate from the health score

119.6Postings index · February 1, 2020 = 100Observation: Oct 23, 2026
+19.6%Versus the February 2020 baseline
+1.7%Change over about four weeksSep 25, 2026 to Oct 23, 2026

Total postings index (seasonally adjusted) by observation date · baseline 100

The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.

View values: Indeed postings index
Indeed postings index
Observation dateIndex (Feb 2020 = 100)
Jul 24, 2026117.10
Jul 31, 2026116.47
Aug 7, 2026116.61
Aug 14, 2026116.32
Aug 21, 2026116.63
Aug 28, 2026117.00
Sep 4, 2026116.46
Sep 11, 2026116.81
Sep 18, 2026116.61
Sep 25, 2026117.53
Oct 2, 2026117.89
Oct 9, 2026118.30
Oct 16, 2026118.18
Oct 23, 2026119.58

This is statewide demand across all occupations, not demand for this specific job. Postings are not a count of vacancies or hires, and Indeed does not cover the entire labor market.

Source: Indeed Hiring Lab · CC BY 4.0. Seven-day average, seasonally adjusted; publisher refreshes weekly and may revise history. Retrieved Nov 1, 2026 · saved source copy. JobMarketHealth calculates the displayed changes and samples weekly observations for the chart.

Explore states and career fields · Methodology and limits

Statewide layoff notices

Statewide layoff-notice filings

Louisiana statewide

5 notices in this source

Notice dates from Aug 5, 2026 to Nov 2, 2026 (UTC), a rolling 90-calendar-day period.

What this means: These are statewide totals from notices dated in this period in Louisiana’s official tracking system. Reported positions are the counts published in those notices, not a count of people confirmed to have lost their jobs. No employer is identified.

Notices describe planned workforce changes, not confirmed job losses. Notices may be amended or withdrawn. This statewide context is not occupation-specific and does not affect the Job Market Health score. Louisiana’s state tracking system also records smaller Rapid Response events that fall below federal WARN thresholds, so it is not a list of federal WARN filings only.

Louisiana Workforce Commission / Louisiana Works About WARN data

Source last checked

Career context

Related roles from the occupation’s published O*NET profile.

Questions answered by this release

Laundry and dry-cleaning workers in Louisiana FAQs

Each answer is limited to what QCEW 2026 Q1 actually publishes for this state.

Is employment growing for Laundry and dry-cleaning workers in Louisiana?

The available QCEW measure is not direct occupation employment. Employment across the Louisiana industries weighted to Laundry and dry-cleaning workers changed -0.1% year over year in January to March 2026, compared with +0.4% nationwide.

Are wages for Laundry and dry-cleaning workers rising in Louisiana?

QCEW does not publish pay for Laundry and dry-cleaning workers in this view. Average weekly wages across the weighted industries changed +2.6% year over year; that must not be read as an occupation salary change.

How complete is this Louisiana industry view?

The three core state trends each meet the site’s coverage floor; the minimum published coverage is 99.5% of the occupation’s industry mix.

Does this page show current Laundry and dry-cleaning workers openings?

No. QCEW measures industry employment, establishments and wages. Any postings, news or WARN figures shown here are statewide context and are not occupation-specific openings.

Methodology & sourcesQCEW 2026 Q1 · coverage 99.5% · full evidence record

Methodology & Sources

Derived by JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix. This is occupation-weighted industry context, not direct occupation employment and not a count of current job openings.

Occupation
Laundry and dry-cleaning workers
SOC code
51-6011
State
Louisiana
QCEW release label
QCEW 2026 Q1
Data period
2026 Q1
State industry employment, year over year
-0.1%State data coverage 99.5%
U.S. benchmark, year over year
+0.4%
Difference from U.S. benchmark
-0.5 percentage pointsPercentage-point gaps use the original published values and are rounded once; subtracting the rounded percentages can give a slightly different result.
Establishments, year over year
+2.3%State data coverage 99.5%
Average weekly industry wage, year over year
+2.6%State data coverage 99.65%
Industry mix vintage
EP-2025-2035
BLS publication date
Aug 28, 2026
Source verification
Verified against the committed source snapshotVerified Sep 17, 2026
Canonical record URL
https://jobmarkethealth.com/occupations/laundry-and-dry-cleaning-workers/louisiana#evidence-record
Derived by
JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix

Weighted industry conditions are not direct occupation employment, occupation wages, current openings or a state-level Job Market Health score. No causal explanation is inferred.

Laundry and dry-cleaning workers in other states