Insurance Underwriters in Arkansas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$64,028
after federal, FICA and Arkansas tax
Tax takes
$18,102
22.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$74,014
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
$82,130
Kept after tax
$64,028
Worth in national money
$74,014
State rank
17
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Arkansas sits in the middle of the pack for insurance underwriters. The median is $82,130, ranking 17 of 49 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Arkansas. It ranks 61 out of 489 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Here is where Arkansas does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $82,130 you keep $64,028, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $74,014 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $86,390, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Arkansas occupies the middle band for insurance underwriters: a median of $82,130, ranking 17 of 49. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Within Arkansas, insurance underwriters ranks 61 of 489 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- After federal, FICA and Arkansas income tax, retained pay for insurance underwriters on $82,130 is $64,028. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $74,014 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 $86,390 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Insurance Underwriters
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $41,450 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $82,130 |
| Top tenth earn over | $158,530 |
| This salary | $82,130 |
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 | $64,028 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $66,608 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$5,469 |
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 | $78,462 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$7,555 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 87 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $82,130 as a midpoint for Arkansas, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $41,450 and the ninetieth is $158,530 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Arkansas the take-home figure of $64,028, from $82,130, 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 61 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 $74,014, the adjusted value of that $82,130 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 61 of 489 in the state.
- The Arkansas median of $82,130 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $41,450 to $158,530. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Arkansas is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $64,028 from $82,130. 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 61 of 489 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Arkansas, so $74,014 — the adjusted value of that $82,130 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 61 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 $86,390 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $41,450 and the top tenth $158,530 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $74,014.
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 $64,028 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 49 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $86,390. 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 ($41,450) and the ninetieth ($158,530) 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 $74,014 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 $64,028 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.