Orderlies in Arkansas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$26,814
after federal, FICA and Arkansas tax
Tax takes
$4,726
15.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$30,996
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
$31,540
Kept after tax
$26,814
Worth in national money
$30,996
State rank
44
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Arkansas pays orderlies a middle wage of $31,540, 44 of 47 states and about 17.63% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Arkansas this is lower-paid work. Of 489 occupations the state publishes figures for, orderlies ranks 442. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $31,540 you keep $26,814 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $30,996 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $32,480, since top earners drag the number up.
- Arkansas's $31,540 median for orderlies places it 44 of 47 states, about 17.63% 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.
- Against every occupation Arkansas reports, orderlies ranks 442 of 489, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Retained pay in Arkansas is $26,814 after the full tax stack, from $31,540. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $30,996 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $32,480 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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: Orderlies
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $25,650 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $31,540 |
| Top tenth earn over | $37,330 |
| This salary | $31,540 |
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 | $26,814 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $27,522 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,673 |
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 | $30,658 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,233 |
| 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 $31,540. The published range is $25,650 up to $37,330, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $26,814 take-home in Arkansas comes from $31,540. 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 442 of 489.
- Two cautions on $30,996, the adjusted value of that $31,540 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Arkansas. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 442 of 489 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for orderlies in Arkansas the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $25,650 to $37,330. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $26,814, from $31,540, 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 442 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 44 of 47 for it.
- This $30,996 adjusted figure, worked from $31,540, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 442 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 442 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $25,650 and the top tenth $37,330, 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 $30,996 in national terms.
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 $26,814 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 47 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($25,650 to $37,330) 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 $30,996 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 $26,814 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.