Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks in Arkansas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$24,325
after federal, FICA and Arkansas tax
Tax takes
$3,975
14.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$28,119
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
$28,300
Kept after tax
$24,325
Worth in national money
$28,119
State rank
46
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Arkansas is among the lower-paying states for hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks. The middle earner takes $28,300, ranking 46 of 51 states — about 19.3% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Measured against other jobs in Arkansas, this one sits low: 469 of 489 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $28,300 you keep $24,325 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $28,119 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $29,790, since top earners drag the number up.
- Arkansas ranks 46 of 51 for hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks, with a median of $28,300 — about 19.3% 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.
- Hotel, motel, and resort desk clerks occupies position 469 of 489 in Arkansas's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Retained pay in Arkansas is $24,325 after the full tax stack, from $28,300. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $28,119 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $29,790 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $24,150 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $28,300 |
| Top tenth earn over | $35,140 |
| This salary | $28,300 |
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 | $24,325 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $24,915 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,479 |
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 | $27,583 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,993 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 87 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $28,300 as a midpoint for Arkansas, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $24,150 and the ninetieth is $35,140 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $24,325 take-home in Arkansas comes from $28,300. 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 469 of 489.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $28,119 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 469.
- The Arkansas median of $28,300 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $24,150 to $35,140. 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 $24,325, from $28,300, 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 469 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 46 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $28,119, worked from $28,300, 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 469 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 $29,790, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $24,150 at the bottom tenth to $35,140 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 $28,119.
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 $24,325 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 $29,790. 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 ($24,150 to $35,140) 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 $28,119 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 $24,325 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.