Food Processing Workers, All Other in Arkansas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,643
after federal, FICA and Arkansas tax
Tax takes
$6,197
16.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$36,578
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
$37,840
Kept after tax
$31,643
Worth in national money
$36,578
State rank
31
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Arkansas pays food processing workers, all other a middle wage of $37,840, 31 of 46 states and about 4.64% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Against other work in Arkansas, this sits in the middle: 364 of 489 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where Arkansas does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $37,840 you keep $31,643, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $36,578 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $39,380, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Arkansas's $37,840 median for food processing workers, all other places it 31 of 46 states, about 4.64% 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.
- Food processing workers, all other ranks 364 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.
- After federal, FICA and Arkansas income tax, retained pay for food processing workers, all other on $37,840 is $31,643. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $36,578 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 $39,380 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Food Processing Workers, All Other
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $34,730 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $37,840 |
| Top tenth earn over | $47,190 |
| This salary | $37,840 |
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 | $31,643 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $32,584 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,046 |
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 | $36,668 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,684 |
| 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 $37,840. The published range is $34,730 up to $47,190, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Arkansas the take-home figure of $31,643, from $37,840, 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 364 of 489 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Arkansas, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $36,578, the adjusted value of that $37,840 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 364 of 489 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for food processing workers, all other in Arkansas the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $34,730 to $47,190. 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 $31,643 from $37,840. 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 364 of 489 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Arkansas, so $36,578 — the adjusted value of that $37,840 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 364 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 $39,380 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $34,730 and the top tenth $47,190, so most people doing this work in Arkansas sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $36,578.
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 $31,643 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 46 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 $39,380. 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 ($34,730 to $47,190) 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 $36,578 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 $31,643 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 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.