Kindergarten Teachers, Except Special Education in Arkansas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$42,543
after federal, FICA and Arkansas tax
Tax takes
$9,517
18.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$49,178
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
$52,060
Kept after tax
$42,543
Worth in national money
$49,178
State rank
45
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Arkansas is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $52,060, ranking 45 of 50 states — about 16.94% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Against other work in Arkansas, this sits in the middle: 204 of 489 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $52,060 you keep $42,543 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $49,178 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $55,220, since top earners drag the number up.
- Arkansas ranks 45 of 50 for kindergarten teachers, except special education, with a median of $52,060 — about 16.94% 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.
- Kindergarten teachers, except special education ranks 204 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.
- Retained pay in Arkansas is $42,543 after the full tax stack, from $52,060. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $49,178 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $55,220 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Kindergarten Teachers, Except Special Education
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $47,240 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $52,060 |
| Top tenth earn over | $65,710 |
| This salary | $52,060 |
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 | $42,543 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $44,010 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,888 |
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 | $50,233 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,702 |
| 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 $52,060. The published range is $47,240 up to $65,710, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $42,543 take-home in Arkansas comes from $52,060. 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 204 of 489.
- One number stands for prices across all of Arkansas, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $49,178, the adjusted value of that $52,060 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 204 of 489 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for kindergarten teachers, except special education in Arkansas the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $47,240 to $65,710. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $42,543, from $52,060, 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 204 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 45 of 50 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Arkansas, so $49,178 — the adjusted value of that $52,060 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 204 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 $55,220, 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?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $47,240 and the top tenth $65,710, so most people doing this work in Arkansas sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Arkansas is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $49,178 in national terms.
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, $42,543 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 50 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 $55,220. 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 ($47,240 to $65,710) 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 $49,178 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 $42,543 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.