Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators in Arkansas

Machined metal parts and a CNC machine in a clean manufacturing workshop.

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$30,991

after federal, FICA and Arkansas tax

Tax takes

$5,999

16.2% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$35,825

Arkansas costs less than average

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

$36,990

Kept after tax

$30,991

Worth in national money

$35,825

State rank

51

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 $36,990. That is 51 of 51 states, and about 17.16% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
  • Against 489 occupations Arkansas publishes, this job lands at 385. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
  • Here is where Arkansas does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $36,990 you keep $30,991, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $35,825 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $38,740, because the best-paid pull it up.
  • For miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators, Arkansas sits in the lower band at $36,990, ranking 51 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 17.16%. 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 385 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.
  • After federal, FICA and Arkansas income tax, retained pay for miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators on $36,990 is $30,991. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $35,825 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 $38,740 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: Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators

The state median for this job

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$29,120
Half earn under$36,990
Top tenth earn over$49,930
This salary$36,990

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

Compare with
+$910take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in Arkansas$30,991
Take-home in Texas$31,901
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity−$2,996

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

Moving to
$0$40,613
$40,613in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$35,857
Raise you would need+$3,623
Prices in Texas97 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 $36,990. The published range is $29,120 up to $49,930, 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 $30,991, worked from $36,990. 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 385 of 489.
  • One number stands for prices across all of Arkansas, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $35,825, the adjusted value of that $36,990 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 385 of 489 in the state.
  • Reported values are medians; for miscellaneous assemblers and fabricators in Arkansas the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $29,120 to $49,930. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
  • The Arkansas take-home of $30,991, on $36,990 for work ranking 385 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 385 of 489 in the state.
  • Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Arkansas, so $35,825 — the adjusted value of that $36,990 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 385 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 $38,740, 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?

The range here is narrow. From $29,120 at the bottom tenth to $49,930 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.

What does this pay actually buy where I live?

More than the figure suggests. Prices in Arkansas sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $35,825 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.

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 $30,991.

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 $38,740. 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 ($29,120 to $49,930) 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 $35,825 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 $30,991 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.