Education Teachers, Postsecondary in Arkansas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$58,943
after federal, FICA and Arkansas tax
Tax takes
$15,557
20.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$68,136
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
$74,500
Kept after tax
$58,943
Worth in national money
$68,136
State rank
22
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Arkansas sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $74,500, ranking 22 of 49 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Arkansas. It ranks 87 out of 489 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Here is where Arkansas does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $74,500 you keep $58,943, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $68,136 would elsewhere. The average is lower, $70,200, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- Arkansas occupies the middle band for education teachers, postsecondary: a median of $74,500, ranking 22 of 49. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Within Arkansas, education teachers, postsecondary ranks 87 of 489 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- After federal, FICA and Arkansas income tax, retained pay for education teachers, postsecondary on $74,500 is $58,943. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $68,136 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $70,200 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in wage data.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Education Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $46,730 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $74,500 |
| Top tenth earn over | $92,000 |
| This salary | $74,500 |
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 | $58,943 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $61,241 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$5,115 |
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 | $71,234 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$7,065 |
| 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 $74,500. The published range is $46,730 up to $92,000, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Arkansas the take-home figure of $58,943, from $74,500, 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 87 of 489 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $68,136, the adjusted value of that $74,500 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 87 of 489 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for education teachers, postsecondary in Arkansas the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $46,730 to $92,000. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Arkansas is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $58,943 from $74,500. 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 87 of 489 locally.
- This $68,136 adjusted figure, worked from $74,500, 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 87 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 87 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 $70,200 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $46,730 at the bottom tenth to $92,000 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $68,136.
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 $58,943 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 49 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $70,200. 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 ($46,730 to $92,000) 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 $68,136 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 $58,943 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.