Chemists in Arkansas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$59,656
after federal, FICA and Arkansas tax
Tax takes
$15,914
21.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$68,960
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
$75,570
Kept after tax
$59,656
Worth in national money
$68,960
State rank
46
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for chemists is on the low side in Arkansas. The middle earner gets $75,570. That is 46 of 51 states, and about 17.17% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 489 occupations Arkansas reports, chemists comes in at 85 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $75,570 you keep $59,656 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $68,960 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $86,800, since top earners drag the number up.
- For chemists, Arkansas sits in the lower band at $75,570, ranking 46 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 17.17%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Chemists ranks 85 of 489 occupations by median in Arkansas, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Retained pay in Arkansas is $59,656 after the full tax stack, from $75,570. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $68,960 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $86,800 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Chemists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $46,600 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $75,570 |
| Top tenth earn over | $131,620 |
| This salary | $75,570 |
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 | $59,656 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $61,993 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$5,164 |
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 | $72,247 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$7,134 |
| 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 chemists in Arkansas earn under $75,570 and half over. The published range runs $46,600 at the tenth percentile to $131,620 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 $59,656, worked from $75,570. 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 85 of 489.
- Two cautions on $68,960, the adjusted value of that $75,570 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 85 of 489 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for chemists in Arkansas, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $46,600 to $131,620; 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 $59,656, on $75,570 for work ranking 85 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 85 of 489 in the state.
- This $68,960 adjusted figure, worked from $75,570, 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 85 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 85 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 $86,800, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $46,600 at the bottom tenth to $131,620 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Arkansas is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $68,960 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Arkansas adds its own income tax on top — which is why $59,656 of this wage survives to your account.
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.
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 $86,800. 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 ($46,600) and the ninetieth ($131,620) 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 $68,960 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 $59,656 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.