Merchandise Displayers and Window Trimmers in Arkansas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,409
after federal, FICA and Arkansas tax
Tax takes
$5,821
16.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$35,152
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
$36,230
Kept after tax
$30,409
Worth in national money
$35,152
State rank
46
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Arkansas. The middle earner gets $36,230. That is 46 of 51 states, and about 8.02% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 489 occupations Arkansas publishes, this job lands at 397. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $36,230 you keep $30,409 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $35,152 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $38,440, since top earners drag the number up.
- For merchandise displayers and window trimmers, Arkansas sits in the lower band at $36,230, ranking 46 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 8.02%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Arkansas, this work ranks 397 of 489 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Retained pay in Arkansas is $30,409 after the full tax stack, from $36,230. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $35,152 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $38,440 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Merchandise Displayers and Window Trimmers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $28,250 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $36,230 |
| Top tenth earn over | $45,510 |
| This salary | $36,230 |
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 | $30,409 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,291 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,951 |
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 | $35,132 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,569 |
| 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 $36,230. The published range is $28,250 up to $45,510, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Arkansas's $30,409, worked from $36,230. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 397 of 489.
- One number stands for prices across all of Arkansas, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $35,152, the adjusted value of that $36,230 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 397 of 489 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for merchandise displayers and window trimmers in Arkansas the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $28,250 to $45,510. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Arkansas take-home of $30,409, on $36,230 for work ranking 397 of 489 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 397 of 489 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Arkansas, so $35,152 — the adjusted value of that $36,230 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 397 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 $38,440 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $28,250 at the tenth percentile, $45,510 at the ninetieth.
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 $35,152.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Arkansas then takes its own share, leaving $30,409.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like 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 $38,440. 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 ($28,250 to $45,510) 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 $35,152 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 $30,409 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.