Payroll Specialist salary in Baton Rouge, LA

Pay in Baton Rouge against Louisiana and the US

Pay is more spread out here than nationally: the top tenth earns $75,600 or more, 2.6 times the bottom tenth, against 2.1 times across the US. Two offers for the same title can sit far apart. The middle half of payroll specialists in Baton Rouge earns $44,250–$64,210. From the 25th to the 75th percentile, the local range is only $19,960 wide, against $21,040 across Louisiana and $21,610 nationally: employers in Baton Rouge pay within a narrower band.

What to budget for a payroll specialist here

An offer at the 75th percentile instead of the median adds $9,630 a year in pay and about $12,426 in employer cost. Going down to the 25th percentile saves $10,330 in pay. 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 $58,260 falls between the median and the 75th percentile in Baton Rouge, and the Louisiana statewide median of $50,800 falls between the 25th percentile and the median.

What a hire really costs in Baton Rouge

At the $54,580 median, a local hire costs about $70,426 a year: benefits and payroll taxes other than paid leave are 22.5% of total compensation in US private industry², about $15,846 here. Recruiting, equipment and office space come on top. Benefit levels vary by employer, so treat this as an estimate.

We place executive assistants, customer support and e-commerce staff today; for payroll specialists we answer within one business day whether we can help. Enter the monthly pay you have in mind to compare it with a local hire. The fee field shows our standard fee³; Deel's contractor plan is the default payroll tool⁴.

Other roles in Baton Rouge

Of the 17 roles we track in Baton Rouge, this one ranks #9 by median pay, between executive assistants ($58,800) and HR assistants ($48,420). Project Coordinator is the highest at $86,650.

Measured against the US median, payroll specialists rank #4 of the 17 roles we track in Baton Rouge (-6.3%), between paralegals (-6.1%) and bookkeepers (-7.8%). The typical role here is at -13.4%, so, measured against the US, payroll specialists cost more in Baton Rouge than the area's general pay level would suggest. Payroll specialists hold 1.4% of the jobs in these 17 roles in Baton Rouge, 1.3% across Louisiana and 1.0% nationally. The job is a bigger part of the local workforce in these roles than it is nationally.

Other areas in Louisiana

Across the 13 areas of Louisiana with data for this job, the median runs from $45,040 in the Southwest Louisiana nonmetro area to $54,580 in Baton Rouge, a gap of $9,540 a year. No other area in Louisiana has as many payroll specialists, and all 12 others pay less.

Baton Rouge against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, Baton Rouge is #51 of 482 US areas for this job. It is one of the larger markets for this job, with pay near the middle of the US range. Outside Louisiana, Louisville and Rome pay just above Baton Rouge and Columbus and Atlantic City-Hammonton just below. All four are within $110 a year of the median in Baton Rouge. Of the three markets with about as many payroll specialists, two pay more.

Questions

Sources

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