Dietitians and Nutritionists in Arkansas

A stethoscope and folded scrubs in a sunlit clinical workspace.

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$52,875

after federal, FICA and Arkansas tax

Tax takes

$12,665

19.3% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$61,122

Arkansas costs less than average

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

$65,540

Kept after tax

$52,875

Worth in national money

$61,122

State rank

44

of 51 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • The nominal figure here is modest. Arkansas pays dietitians and nutritionists a middle wage of $65,540, 44 of 51 states and about 14.21% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
  • Within Arkansas this is well-paid work. Of 489 occupations with published figures in the state, dietitians and nutritionists ranks 112 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
  • Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $65,540 you keep $52,875 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $61,122 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $83,050, since top earners drag the number up.
  • Arkansas's $65,540 median for dietitians and nutritionists places it 44 of 51 states, about 14.21% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
  • Ranked against every occupation Arkansas publishes a median for, dietitians and nutritionists sits 112 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 $52,875 after the full tax stack, from $65,540. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $61,122 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $83,050 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.

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Pay band: Dietitians and Nutritionists

The state median for this job

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$44,700
Half earn under$65,540
Top tenth earn over$174,060
This salary$65,540

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

Compare with
+$1,966take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in Arkansas$52,875
Take-home in Texas$54,841
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity−$4,686

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

Moving to
$0$71,876
$71,876in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$63,093
Raise you would need+$6,336
Prices in Texas97 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 $65,540. The published range is $44,700 up to $174,060, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
  • One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Arkansas's $52,875, worked from $65,540. 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 112 of 489.
  • One number stands for prices across all of Arkansas, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $61,122, the adjusted value of that $65,540 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 112 of 489 in the state.
  • Reported values are medians; for dietitians and nutritionists in Arkansas the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $44,700 to $174,060. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
  • The Arkansas take-home of $52,875, on $65,540 for work ranking 112 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 112 of 489 in the state.
  • Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Arkansas, so $61,122 — the adjusted value of that $65,540 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 112 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 $83,050 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.

Why is the pay range for this job so wide?

Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $44,700 and the top tenth $174,060 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.

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 $61,122.

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 $52,875.

Can I compare this job across every state?

All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like 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 $83,050. 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 ($44,700) and the ninetieth ($174,060) 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 $61,122 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 $52,875 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.