Civil Engineers in Arkansas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$65,954
after federal, FICA and Arkansas tax
Tax takes
$19,066
22.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$76,241
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
$85,020
Kept after tax
$65,954
Worth in national money
$76,241
State rank
50
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Arkansas is among the lower-paying states for civil engineers. The middle earner takes $85,020, ranking 50 of 51 states — about 15.69% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 489 occupations Arkansas reports, civil engineers comes in at 56 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $85,020 you keep $65,954 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $76,241 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $89,500, since top earners drag the number up.
- Arkansas ranks 50 of 51 for civil engineers, with a median of $85,020 — about 15.69% 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.
- Civil engineers ranks 56 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 $65,954 after the full tax stack, from $85,020. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $76,241 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $89,500 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Civil Engineers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $44,810 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $85,020 |
| Top tenth earn over | $132,460 |
| This salary | $85,020 |
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 | $65,954 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $68,642 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$5,604 |
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 | $81,200 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$7,741 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 87 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $85,020 as a midpoint for Arkansas, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $44,810 and the ninetieth is $132,460 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Arkansas's $65,954, worked from $85,020. 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 56 of 489.
- One number stands for prices across all of Arkansas, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $76,241, the adjusted value of that $85,020 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 56 of 489 in the state.
- The Arkansas median of $85,020 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $44,810 to $132,460. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Arkansas take-home of $65,954, on $85,020 for work ranking 56 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 56 of 489 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Arkansas, so $76,241 — the adjusted value of that $85,020 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 56 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 $89,500, 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 $44,810 at the bottom tenth to $132,460 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 $76,241.
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 $65,954 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 $89,500. 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 ($44,810) and the ninetieth ($132,460) 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 $76,241 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 $65,954 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.