Louisiana energy profile

Manufacturing energy costs in Louisiana

Louisiana plants pay 6.1 cents per kWh for industrial power as of Aug 2026, which puts the state 36.7% under the national average and 2 of 51 in the country, counting from the cheapest.

Current prices in Louisiana

  • Industrial electricity: 6.1 cents per kWh (Aug 2026, EIA).
  • Commercial electricity, the rate a warehouse or distribution center in Louisiana typically pays: 11.09 cents per kWh.
  • Industrial natural gas: $3.94 per Mcf (Aug 2026), 9.2% below the national average.
  • Just below Louisiana on the price ladder: New Mexico at 5.08 cents. Just above: Tennessee at 6.92, Texas at 7.21, Kentucky at 7.37 cents.

What the rate does to operating cost

  • A 10 kW machine running a 4,000 hour year costs about $2,440 in electricity at Louisiana rates versus $3,856 at the national average; at 50 kW the gap is $12,200 versus $19,280, and at 200 kW it is $48,800 versus $77,120.
  • Energy is a genuine competitive advantage here: energy-intensive steps like heat treating, melting, and drying carry meaningfully lower unit cost in Louisiana than in most of the country, which strengthens make-versus-buy cases for keeping those operations in-house.

Cost to manufacture in Louisiana

  • Louisiana scores 91.4 on the MFG Calcs State Cost-to-Manufacture Index, where the U.S. is 100: the 7th lowest of 51 (Aug 2026).
  • Its labor factor (manufacturing wages) is 100.8 and its energy factor (industrial electricity) 63.3; the index weighs wages at 75% and electricity at 25% and leaves out taxes, land and incentives.

What factory labor pays in Louisiana

  • Industrial production managers: $64.05/hr median in Louisiana versus $60.61 nationally (OEWS 2025).
  • Industrial engineers: $59.09/hr median in Louisiana versus $49.25 nationally (OEWS 2025).
  • Production supervisors: $37.27/hr median in Louisiana versus $35.79 nationally (OEWS 2025).
  • Welders, cutters, and brazers: $29.93/hr median in Louisiana versus $25.84 nationally (OEWS 2025).
  • Machinists: $29.38/hr median in Louisiana versus $28.24 nationally (OEWS 2025).
  • Industrial machinery mechanics: $28.97/hr median in Louisiana versus $31.02 nationally (OEWS 2025).

Manufacturing jobs in Louisiana

  • Louisiana had 142,300 manufacturing jobs in Sep 2026, the 31st most of 51 (BLS State and Metro Area Employment, not seasonally adjusted).
  • That is up 2.0% from Sep 2025.

Manufacturing base in Louisiana

  • Louisiana has 3,044 manufacturing establishments employing about 120,360 workers (Census County Business Patterns, 2023).
  • Average pay per manufacturing employee is $85,683, 17% above the U.S. average of $73,202.
  • Largest sectors by establishment count: fabricated metal products (685), food manufacturing (378), machine shops (241), chemical manufacturing (235), printing and related support (230).

Manufacturing economy in Louisiana

  • Manufacturing added $62.3B to Louisiana's economy in 2025, 18.2% of the state's GDP, the 17th largest of the 50 states and DC (BEA).

Sources and update cadence

  • Prices come from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, jobs from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, establishments and payroll from the Census Bureau and GDP from the Bureau of Economic Analysis; each refreshes automatically when the agency publishes, and this page archives every month and year it shows so the Louisiana history keeps deepening.

Last reviewed 2026-11-13.