Customer Support Specialist salary in Lake Charles, LA

Pay in Lake Charles against Louisiana and the US

Customer support specialists at the 90th percentile earn $48,000, 1.9 times the 10th percentile; the US ratio is 2.0. The middle half of customer support specialists in Lake Charles earns $31,460–$40,960. From the 25th to the 75th percentile, the local range is only $9,500 wide, against $12,810 across Louisiana and $14,910 nationally: employers in Lake Charles pay within a narrower band.

What to budget for a customer support specialist here

Pay climbs faster above the median than below it here: the 75th percentile is $5,880 over the median, the 25th only $3,620 under it. An offer at the 75th percentile adds about $7,587 a year in employer cost. These percentiles describe what people in the job earn locally, not experience levels, so place your offer by the tasks and seniority you need.

For scale, the US median of $44,770 falls between the 75th and 90th percentiles in Lake Charles, and the Louisiana statewide median of $37,330 falls between the median and the 75th percentile. An offer at the national rate would beat what three quarters of local customer support specialists earn.

What a hire really costs in Lake Charles

At the $35,080 median, a local hire costs about $45,265 a year: benefits and payroll taxes other than paid leave are 22.5% of total compensation in US private industry², about $10,185 here. Recruiting, equipment and office space come on top. Benefit levels vary by employer, so treat this as an estimate.

Our open customer support specialist roles pay $700–$1,000 a month under a direct contract. The one-time fee is $2,500³ with a 180-day replacement; paying through Deel adds $49 a month⁴. Change any number below to match your plan.

A local hire here costs about 3.4 times as much as a remote hire in year one at the midpoint of our range. From year two, when the fee drops out, it is 4.2 times the remote figure of $10,788. About the candidates: most apply through our assessment platform with a written and a spoken English task; each profile shows the English level (B1–C2); Silkstaff interviews every shortlisted candidate live, in English, before you meet them.

Other roles in Lake Charles

Of the 14 roles we track in Lake Charles, this one ranks #12 by median pay, between medical administrative assistants ($36,400) and data entry specialists ($33,310). Project Coordinator is the highest at $92,770.

Measured against the US median, customer support specialists rank #11 of the 14 roles we track in Lake Charles (-21.6%), between office managers (-20.9%) and paralegals (-22.1%). The typical role here is at -18.1%, so, measured against the US, customer support specialists cost less in Lake Charles than the area's general pay level would suggest. Customer support specialists hold 15.4% of the jobs in these 14 roles in Lake Charles, 16.0% across Louisiana and 17.0% nationally. That is close to the national mix.

Other areas in Louisiana

Across the 13 areas of Louisiana with data for this job, the median runs from $33,870 in the Northeast Louisiana nonmetro area to $39,300 in New Orleans-Metairie, a gap of $5,430 a year. Of the 7 areas in Louisiana with more customer support specialists than Lake Charles, 1 pays less: Monroe, LA ($34,520).

Lake Charles against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, Lake Charles is #319 of 520 US areas for this job. It is a mid-sized market, and its pay is in the bottom quarter of US areas. Outside Louisiana, Fayetteville and Valdosta pay just above Lake Charles and Lawton and Enid just below. All four are within $180 a year of the median in Lake Charles. Of the three markets with about as many customer support specialists, all three pay more.

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Sources

How these pages are built: methodology and data sources. Last updated 2026-11-12.