Food Preparation Workers in Arkansas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$23,820
after federal, FICA and Arkansas tax
Tax takes
$3,840
13.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$27,535
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
$27,660
Kept after tax
$23,820
Worth in national money
$27,535
State rank
48
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Arkansas pays food preparation workers a middle wage of $27,660, 48 of 51 states and about 21.69% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Arkansas this is lower-paid work. Of 489 occupations the state publishes figures for, food preparation workers ranks 479. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $27,660 you keep $23,820 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $27,535 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $29,460, since top earners drag the number up.
- Arkansas's $27,660 median for food preparation workers places it 48 of 51 states, about 21.69% 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.
- Against every occupation Arkansas reports, food preparation workers ranks 479 of 489, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Retained pay in Arkansas is $23,820 after the full tax stack, from $27,660. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $27,535 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $29,460 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Food Preparation Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $24,020 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $27,660 |
| Top tenth earn over | $36,260 |
| This salary | $27,660 |
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 | $23,820 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $24,388 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,438 |
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 | $26,970 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,927 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 87 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $27,660 as a midpoint for Arkansas, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $24,020 and the ninetieth is $36,260 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $23,820 take-home in Arkansas comes from $27,660. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 479 of 489.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $27,535 uses one figure for the whole of Arkansas. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 489 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 479.
- The Arkansas median of $27,660 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $24,020 to $36,260. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $23,820, from $27,660, assumes a single Arkansas filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 479 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 48 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $27,535, worked from $27,660, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Arkansas address, on work sitting at 479 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 $29,460 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 — $24,020 at the tenth percentile, $36,260 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Arkansas sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $27,535 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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, $23,820 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 $29,460. 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 ($24,020 to $36,260) 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 $27,535 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 $23,820 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.