Best Biological Technician programs in Louisiana, ranked by enrollment
Assist biological and medical scientists. Set up, operate, and maintain laboratory instruments and equipment, monitor experiments, collect data and samples, make observations, and calculate and record results.
23 schools in Louisiana run programs that feed this job, graduating 1,916 people a year. The job pays a median of $47,310 in Louisiana across about 190 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).
Fields of study in Louisiana that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.
11 programs in Louisiana that lead to this job
Ranked by graduates per year in Louisiana (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own Louisiana page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Biology/Biological Sciences, Generalmain feeder CIP 26.0101In Louisiana → | 1,432 | 74.7% | 21 | $32,152 | $25,000 |
| 2 | Neurosciencemain feeder CIP 26.1501In Louisiana → | 175 | 9.1% | 5 | $31,687 | $22,936 |
| 3 | CIP 26.0202In Louisiana → | 123 | 6.4% | 6 | $38,243 | $23,014 |
| 4 | Cell/Cellular and Molecular Biologymain feeder CIP 26.0406In Louisiana → | 78 | 4.1% | 2 | $35,393 | $19,961 |
| 5 | Biomedical Sciences, Generalmain feeder CIP 26.0102In Louisiana → | 31 | 1.6% | 5 | $32,152 | $25,000 |
| 6 | CIP 26.0502In Louisiana → | 27 | 1.4% | 2 | $38,383 | $22,065 |
| 7 | Biostatisticsmain feeder CIP 26.1102In Louisiana → | 18 | 0.9% | 2 | $72,338 | $18,500 |
| 8 | CIP 26.0508In Louisiana → | 18 | 0.9% | 1 | $38,383 | $22,065 |
| 9 | Marine Biology and Biological Oceanographymain feeder CIP 26.1302In Louisiana → | 7 | 0.4% | 1 | $29,460 | $23,480 |
| 10 | CIP 26.0503In Louisiana → | 4 | 0.2% | 2 | $38,383 | $22,065 |
| 11 | Bioinformaticsmain feeder CIP 26.1103In Louisiana → | 3 | 0.2% | 1 | $72,338 | $18,500 |
Top 23 schools in Louisiana
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 15 of the 23 schools in this state.
All 23 schools in Louisiana
Every school in Louisiana with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.
| School | City | Control | Graduates / yr | Feeder programs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College | Baton Rouge | Public | 492 | 3 |
| Tulane University of Louisiana | New Orleans | Private not-for-profit | 353 | 7 |
| Xavier University of Louisiana | New Orleans | Private not-for-profit | 166 | 4 |
| Louisiana Tech University | Ruston | Public | 110 | 2 |
| Southeastern Louisiana University | Hammond | Public | 102 | 1 |
| University of New Orleans | New Orleans | Public | 94 | 1 |
| University of Louisiana at Lafayette | Lafayette | Public | 89 | 1 |
| Nicholls State University | Thibodaux | Public | 61 | 2 |
| Northwestern State University of Louisiana | Natchitoches | Public | 57 | 2 |
| University of Louisiana at Monroe | Monroe | Public | 55 | 1 |
| Grambling State University | Grambling | Public | 53 | 1 |
| Louisiana State University - Shreveport | Shreveport | Public | 47 | 1 |
| Loyola University New Orleans | New Orleans | Private not-for-profit | 45 | 4 |
| McNeese State University | Lake Charles | Public | 40 | 1 |
| Louisiana State University at Alexandria | Alexandria | Public | 37 | 1 |
What biological technicians earn in Louisiana
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $57,510. Louisiana pays below the national figure.
1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.
Metro areas in Louisiana
Job outlook
Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.
Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.
How to get in
The full skills, tools, and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Biological Technicians page.
How to become a Biological Technician
Job zone 4 of 5 · SVP 7.0 to < 8.0- Typical entry education
- Bachelor's degree
Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.
Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.
Top skills
The same job in other states
Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.
Related careers in Louisiana
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 19 majors mapped to Biological Technicians19 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 26.0101Biology/Biological Sciences, General
- 26.0102Biomedical Sciences, General
- 26.0202Biochemistry
- 26.0204Molecular Biology
- 26.0406Cell/Cellular and Molecular Biology
- 26.0502Microbiology, General
- 26.0503Medical Microbiology and Bacteriology
- 26.0508Microbiology and Immunology
- 26.0701Zoology/Animal Biology
- 26.0708Animal Behavior and Ethology
- 26.0709Wildlife Biology
- 26.0801Genetics, General
- 26.1102Biostatistics
- 26.1103Bioinformatics
- 26.1104Computational Biology
- 26.1302Marine Biology and Biological Oceanography
- 26.1304Aquatic Biology/Limnology
- 26.1501Neuroscience
- 41.0101Biology/Biotechnology Technology/Technician
Common questions
Answers for people weighing biological technicians programs in Louisiana.
What degree do you need to become a Biological Technician?+
Bachelor's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Biology/Biological Sciences, General, which awarded 1,432 degrees in Louisiana in 2024-25, 74.7% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming a Biological Technician?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 11 programs to this occupation. The largest are Biology, Neurobiology and Neurosciences, Biochemistry, Cell/Cellular Biology and Anatomical Sciences, plus 3 more. Together they graduate about 1,916 people a year in Louisiana.
How much do biological technicians earn in Louisiana?+
The median is $47,310 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 17.7% below the U.S. median of $57,510. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.
Is demand for biological technicians growing?+
BLS projects a +3.5% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, about as fast as average, with roughly 9,100 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career in Louisiana?+
23 institutions in Louisiana reported graduates from at least one of the 11 programs that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.
What other job titles do biological technicians work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Research Associate, Research Technician, Biological Technician, Laboratory Technician among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 19-4021.
About the data on this page
Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024–25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).
BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics
May 2025Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.
BLS Employment Projections
2024–34Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.
IPEDS Completions
2024-25 (provisional)Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.
College Scorecard, Field of Study
2020-21 cohortsMedian graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.
Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes
latest availableGraduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.
NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk
CIP 2020 / SOC 2018Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.
O*NET Database 30.3
30.3Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.
Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA
Explore every U.S. college in one conversation
Clema turns plain-language questions into sourced answers across every U.S. institution — earnings, aid, acceptance, graduation, safety, and athletics from IPEDS, College Scorecard, and 10+ federal datasets, built in.
Free for teams up to 3 · No credit card