Butchers and Meat Cutters in Arkansas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$28,991
after federal, FICA and Arkansas tax
Tax takes
$5,389
15.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$33,512
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
$34,380
Kept after tax
$28,991
Worth in national money
$33,512
State rank
49
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for butchers and meat cutters is on the low side in Arkansas. The middle earner gets $34,380. That is 49 of 51 states, and about 14.35% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 489 occupations Arkansas publishes, butchers and meat cutters lands at 430. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $34,380 you keep $28,991 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $33,512 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $34,860, since top earners drag the number up.
- For butchers and meat cutters, Arkansas sits in the lower band at $34,380, ranking 49 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 14.35%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Arkansas, this work ranks 430 of 489 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Retained pay in Arkansas is $28,991 after the full tax stack, from $34,380. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $33,512 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $34,860 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Butchers and Meat Cutters
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $24,920 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $34,380 |
| Top tenth earn over | $45,100 |
| This salary | $34,380 |
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 | $28,991 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $29,804 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,842 |
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 | $33,368 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,437 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 87 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Arkansas earn less than $34,380. The published range is $24,920 up to $45,100, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $28,991 take-home in Arkansas comes from $34,380. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 430 of 489.
- Two cautions on $33,512, the adjusted value of that $34,380 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 430 of 489 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for butchers and meat cutters in Arkansas the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $24,920 to $45,100. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $28,991, from $34,380, assumes a single Arkansas filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 430 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 49 of 51 for it.
- This $33,512 adjusted figure, worked from $34,380, 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 430 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 430 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $24,920 and the top tenth $45,100, so most people doing this work in Arkansas sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $33,512.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Arkansas's own levy, $28,991 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($24,920 to $45,100) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Arkansas rather than a national figure.
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 $33,512 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 $28,991 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.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.