File Clerks in Arkansas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$32,126
after federal, FICA and Arkansas tax
Tax takes
$6,344
16.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$37,136
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
$38,470
Kept after tax
$32,126
Worth in national money
$37,136
State rank
40
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Arkansas is among the lower-paying states for file clerks. The middle earner takes $38,470, ranking 40 of 49 states — about 11.77% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Against other work in Arkansas, this sits in the middle: 351 of 489 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $38,470 you keep $32,126 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $37,136 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $40,010, since top earners drag the number up.
- Arkansas ranks 40 of 49 for file clerks, with a median of $38,470 — about 11.77% 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.
- File clerks ranks 351 of 489 occupations in Arkansas by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Retained pay in Arkansas is $32,126 after the full tax stack, from $38,470. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $37,136 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $40,010 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: File Clerks
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $28,230 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $38,470 |
| Top tenth earn over | $53,150 |
| This salary | $38,470 |
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 | $32,126 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $33,091 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,084 |
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 | $37,269 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,729 |
| 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 file clerks in Arkansas earn under $38,470 and half over. The published range runs $28,230 at the tenth percentile to $53,150 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 $32,126, worked from $38,470. 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 351 of 489.
- Two cautions on $37,136, the adjusted value of that $38,470 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 351 of 489 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for file clerks in Arkansas, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $28,230 to $53,150; 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 $32,126, on $38,470 for work ranking 351 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 351 of 489 in the state.
- This $37,136 adjusted figure, worked from $38,470, 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 351 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 351 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $40,010, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $28,230 and the top tenth $53,150, so most people doing this work in Arkansas sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $37,136 in national terms.
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 $32,126.
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 $40,010. 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 ($28,230 to $53,150) 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 $37,136 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 $32,126 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.