Medical Records Specialists in Arkansas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$34,632
after federal, FICA and Arkansas tax
Tax takes
$7,108
17.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$40,034
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
$41,740
Kept after tax
$34,632
Worth in national money
$40,034
State rank
50
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Arkansas pays medical records specialists a middle wage of $41,740, 50 of 51 states and about 18.38% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 489 occupations Arkansas reports figures for, this is number 321.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $41,740 you keep $34,632 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $40,034 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $45,880, since top earners drag the number up.
- Arkansas's $41,740 median for medical records specialists places it 50 of 51 states, about 18.38% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- In Arkansas's occupational distribution, medical records specialists sits at 321 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 $34,632 after the full tax stack, from $41,740. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $40,034 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $45,880 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Medical Records Specialists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $33,920 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $41,740 |
| Top tenth earn over | $65,090 |
| This salary | $41,740 |
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 | $34,632 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $35,718 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,277 |
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 | $40,389 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,963 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 87 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $41,740 as a midpoint for Arkansas, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $33,920 and the ninetieth is $65,090 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $34,632 take-home in Arkansas comes from $41,740. 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 321 of 489.
- One number stands for prices across all of Arkansas, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $40,034, the adjusted value of that $41,740 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 321 of 489 in the state.
- The Arkansas median of $41,740 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $33,920 to $65,090. 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 $34,632, from $41,740, 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 321 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 50 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Arkansas, so $40,034 — the adjusted value of that $41,740 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 321 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $45,880, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $33,920 at the bottom tenth to $65,090 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $40,034.
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 $34,632 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 $45,880. 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 ($33,920) and the ninetieth ($65,090) 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 $40,034 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 $34,632 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.