Construction Laborers in Arkansas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,482
after federal, FICA and Arkansas tax
Tax takes
$6,148
16.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$36,392
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
$37,630
Kept after tax
$31,482
Worth in national money
$36,392
State rank
50
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for construction laborers is on the low side in Arkansas. The middle earner gets $37,630. That is 50 of 51 states, and about 20.14% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 489 occupations Arkansas publishes, construction laborers lands at 372. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Arkansas is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $37,630 the take-home is $31,482; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $36,392 would nationally. The average comes to $39,250, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For construction laborers, Arkansas sits in the lower band at $37,630, ranking 50 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 20.14%. 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 372 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.
- Post-tax income for construction laborers in Arkansas, on $37,630, is $31,482 — equivalent to $36,392 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $39,250 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Construction Laborers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $30,850 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $37,630 |
| Top tenth earn over | $48,410 |
| This salary | $37,630 |
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 | $31,482 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $32,416 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,034 |
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 | $36,468 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,669 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 87 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $37,630 as a midpoint for Arkansas, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $30,850 and the ninetieth is $48,410 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Arkansas the take-home figure of $31,482, from $37,630, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 372 of 489 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $36,392, the adjusted value of that $37,630 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 372 of 489 locally.
- The Arkansas median of $37,630 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $30,850 to $48,410. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Arkansas is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $31,482 from $37,630. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 372 of 489 locally.
- This $36,392 adjusted figure, worked from $37,630, 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 372 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 372 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 $39,250 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $30,850 at the tenth percentile, $48,410 at the ninetieth.
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 $36,392 in national terms.
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, $31,482 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 $39,250. 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 ($30,850 to $48,410) 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 $36,392 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 $31,482 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.