Broadcast Technicians in Arkansas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$34,732
after federal, FICA and Arkansas tax
Tax takes
$7,138
17.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$40,149
Arkansas costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Arkansas — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$41,870
Kept after tax
$34,732
Worth in national money
$40,149
State rank
39
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for broadcast technicians is on the low side in Arkansas. The middle earner gets $41,870. That is 39 of 47 states, and about 29.71% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 489 occupations Arkansas reports figures for, this is number 319.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $41,870 you keep $34,732 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $40,149 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $43,870, since top earners drag the number up.
- For broadcast technicians, Arkansas sits in the lower band at $41,870, ranking 39 of 47 and trailing the national median by about 29.71%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- In Arkansas's occupational distribution, broadcast technicians sits at 319 of 489 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Retained pay in Arkansas is $34,732 after the full tax stack, from $41,870. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $40,149 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $43,870 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Broadcast Technicians
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $23,760 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $41,870 |
| Top tenth earn over | $62,580 |
| This salary | $41,870 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Arkansas | $34,732 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $35,823 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,285 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $40,513 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,973 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 87 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of broadcast technicians in Arkansas earn under $41,870 and half over. The published range runs $23,760 at the tenth percentile to $62,580 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Arkansas's $34,732, worked from $41,870. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 319 of 489.
- Two cautions on $40,149, the adjusted value of that $41,870 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Arkansas. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 319 of 489 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for broadcast technicians in Arkansas, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $23,760 to $62,580; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- The Arkansas take-home of $34,732, on $41,870 for work ranking 319 of 489 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 319 of 489 in the state.
- This $40,149 adjusted figure, worked from $41,870, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 319 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 319 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $43,870 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $23,760 at the bottom tenth to $62,580 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $40,149.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Arkansas then takes its own share, leaving $34,732.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 47 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Arkansas is $43,870. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($23,760) and the ninetieth ($62,580) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Arkansas's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $40,149 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $34,732 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Arkansas income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 47 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.