How much do drywall installers make in Louisiana in 2026?

The median drywall installer in Louisiana earns $47,420 a year, which works out to roughly $22.80 an hour based on a standard 2,080-hour work year. That's the middle of the road — half the drywall installers in the state earn more, half earn less. If you're just starting out or still building your resume, the 25th percentile sits at $33,290 annually, or about $16.00 an hour. Experienced hands working steadily on larger commercial and multifamily projects push up to the 75th percentile at $60,730 a year, equivalent to around $29.20 an hour. All figures come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, May 2025.

That $27,440 spread between the bottom and top quartiles tells you something important: skill, speed, and the type of work you land matter a great deal in this trade. A finisher who can hang and tape in the same shift, work overhead without fatigue, and read a set of blueprints without needing direction is going to push toward that $29-plus-per-hour range faster than someone who can only run the screwgun.

Louisiana's construction market runs unevenly across the state. Greater New Orleans drives the largest volume of drywall work, with ongoing hotel renovation, multifamily residential builds, and commercial tenant fit-outs keeping crews busy. Baton Rouge follows with steady industrial office and healthcare construction. Smaller markets like Lafayette, Lake Charles, and Shreveport offer work but less of it, which can mean more downtime between jobs and lower effective annual pay even if the hourly rate is close.

Overtime is a real factor in this trade. A drywall crew on a commercial deadline might run 50- to 55-hour weeks for months at a stretch. For a worker earning the median $22.80 an hour, a 10-hour overtime week adds roughly $342 in gross pay (10 hours at 1.5x). Do that for 20 weeks and you've added nearly $6,840 to your annual take-home — closing the gap between median and 75th-percentile annual earnings without a raise in base rate.

The BLS numbers don't capture everything. Under-the-table residential work, which exists in Louisiana's market, doesn't show up in these figures. Neither do fringe benefits like health insurance, paid vacation, or contributions to a retirement plan, which can add real value to a compensation package even if they don't appear on a pay stub. When comparing offers, factor those in.

No union scale data is available for drywall installers in Louisiana through our current data set. That doesn't mean union work is absent — the Gulf Coast region has union-affiliated contractors operating on larger commercial and industrial projects — but wage floors from collective bargaining agreements aren't reflected in the BLS figures shown here.

To move up the pay scale, the most direct path is picking up additional skills: metal framing, acoustical ceiling systems, and spray fireproofing all make a drywall installer more valuable to a general contractor. Some Louisiana workers pursue the finishing side of the trade more aggressively, becoming proficient at Level 4 and Level 5 finishes for high-end commercial interiors, where tolerances are tight and not everyone can do the work. Contractors pay a premium for that.

Louisiana does not require a state license specifically for drywall installers working as employees. However, contractors performing work above certain dollar thresholds need a Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors (LSLBC) license, and working for a licensed commercial contractor on permitted jobs is generally where the steadiest and best-paying work is found. If you're thinking about running your own crew or going independent, understanding the LSLBC requirements is an early step you'll want to take.

The numbers on this page give you a honest benchmark. Median pay is $22.80 an hour. Push your skills, chase overtime when it's available, and position yourself with contractors doing commercial work in the state's larger metro areas — that's the clearest route to the $29-plus end of the range.