Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers in Arkansas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$42,152
after federal, FICA and Arkansas tax
Tax takes
$9,398
18.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$48,726
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
$51,550
Kept after tax
$42,152
Worth in national money
$48,726
State rank
45
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Arkansas. The middle earner gets $51,550. That is 45 of 51 states, and about 12.09% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 489 occupations Arkansas reports figures for, this is number 209.
- Here is where Arkansas does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $51,550 you keep $42,152, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $48,726 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $57,390, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers, Arkansas sits in the lower band at $51,550, ranking 45 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 12.09%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- In Arkansas's occupational distribution, heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers sits at 209 of 489 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- After federal, FICA and Arkansas income tax, retained pay for heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers on $51,550 is $42,152. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $48,726 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 $57,390 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,770 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $51,550 |
| Top tenth earn over | $81,110 |
| This salary | $51,550 |
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 | $42,152 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $43,600 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,858 |
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 | $49,747 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,666 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 87 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $51,550 as a midpoint for Arkansas, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $36,770 and the ninetieth is $81,110 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $42,152 take-home in Arkansas comes from $51,550. 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 209 of 489.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $48,726 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 209.
- The Arkansas median of $51,550 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $36,770 to $81,110. 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 $42,152, from $51,550, 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 209 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 45 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $48,726, worked from $51,550, 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 209 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $57,390, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $36,770, the highest tenth $81,110, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $48,726.
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 $42,152 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 $57,390. 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 ($36,770) and the ninetieth ($81,110) 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 $48,726 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 $42,152 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.