Mechanical Drafters in Arkansas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$48,598
after federal, FICA and Arkansas tax
Tax takes
$11,362
18.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$56,177
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
$59,960
Kept after tax
$48,598
Worth in national money
$56,177
State rank
41
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for mechanical drafters is on the low side in Arkansas. The middle earner gets $59,960. That is 41 of 47 states, and about 16.2% 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 151.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $59,960 you keep $48,598 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $56,177 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $64,200, since top earners drag the number up.
- For mechanical drafters, Arkansas sits in the lower band at $59,960, ranking 41 of 47 and trailing the national median by about 16.2%. 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, mechanical drafters sits at 151 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.
- Retained pay in Arkansas is $48,598 after the full tax stack, from $59,960. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $56,177 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $64,200 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Mechanical Drafters
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $48,850 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $59,960 |
| Top tenth earn over | $81,010 |
| This salary | $59,960 |
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 | $48,598 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $50,358 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$4,356 |
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 | $57,770 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$5,268 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 87 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $59,960 as a midpoint for Arkansas, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $48,850 and the ninetieth is $81,010 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $48,598 take-home in Arkansas comes from $59,960. 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 151 of 489.
- One number stands for prices across all of Arkansas, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $56,177, the adjusted value of that $59,960 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 151 of 489 in the state.
- The Arkansas median of $59,960 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $48,850 to $81,010. 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 $48,598, from $59,960, 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 151 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 41 of 47 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Arkansas, so $56,177 — the adjusted value of that $59,960 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 151 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 $64,200, 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 $48,850 and the top tenth $81,010, 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 $56,177.
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, $48,598 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 47 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
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 $64,200. 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 ($48,850 to $81,010) 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 $56,177 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 $48,598 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 47 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.