Chemistry Teachers, Postsecondary in Arkansas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$52,246
after federal, FICA and Arkansas tax
Tax takes
$12,474
19.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$60,395
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
$64,720
Kept after tax
$52,246
Worth in national money
$60,395
State rank
47
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Arkansas is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $64,720, ranking 47 of 48 states — about 30.6% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Within Arkansas this is well-paid work. Of 489 occupations with published figures in the state, this job ranks 118 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $64,720 you keep $52,246 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $60,395 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $67,380, since top earners drag the number up.
- Arkansas ranks 47 of 48 for chemistry teachers, postsecondary, with a median of $64,720 — about 30.6% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Ranked against every occupation Arkansas publishes a median for, chemistry teachers, postsecondary sits 118 of 489 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Retained pay in Arkansas is $52,246 after the full tax stack, from $64,720. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $60,395 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $67,380 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Chemistry Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $45,110 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $64,720 |
| Top tenth earn over | $87,200 |
| This salary | $64,720 |
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 | $52,246 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $54,183 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$4,637 |
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 | $62,310 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$6,152 |
| 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 $64,720. The published range is $45,110 up to $87,200, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $52,246 take-home in Arkansas comes from $64,720. 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 118 of 489.
- Two cautions on $60,395, the adjusted value of that $64,720 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 118 of 489 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for chemistry teachers, postsecondary in Arkansas the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $45,110 to $87,200. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $52,246, from $64,720, 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 118 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 47 of 48 for it.
- This $60,395 adjusted figure, worked from $64,720, 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 118 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 118 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $67,380, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $45,110 at the tenth percentile, $87,200 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Arkansas sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $60,395 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 $52,246.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 48 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 $67,380. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($45,110 to $87,200) 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 $60,395 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 $52,246 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.