Photographers in Arkansas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$27,787
after federal, FICA and Arkansas tax
Tax takes
$5,023
15.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$32,121
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
$32,810
Kept after tax
$27,787
Worth in national money
$32,121
State rank
49
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for photographers is on the low side in Arkansas. The middle earner gets $32,810. That is 49 of 49 states, and about 26.53% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 489 occupations Arkansas publishes, photographers lands at 439. 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 $32,810 you keep $27,787, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $32,121 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $34,700, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For photographers, Arkansas sits in the lower band at $32,810, ranking 49 of 49 and trailing the national median by about 26.53%. 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 439 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 photographers on $32,810 is $27,787. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $32,121 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 $34,700 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Photographers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $24,890 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $32,810 |
| Top tenth earn over | $43,950 |
| This salary | $32,810 |
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 | $27,787 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $28,543 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,749 |
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 | $31,870 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,324 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 87 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $32,810 as a midpoint for Arkansas, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $24,890 and the ninetieth is $43,950 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $27,787 take-home in Arkansas comes from $32,810. 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 439 of 489.
- Two cautions on $32,121, the adjusted value of that $32,810 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 439 of 489 locally.
- The Arkansas median of $32,810 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $24,890 to $43,950. 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 $27,787, from $32,810, 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 439 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 49 of 49 for it.
- This $32,121 adjusted figure, worked from $32,810, 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 439 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 439 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 $34,700 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 — $24,890 at the tenth percentile, $43,950 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 $32,121.
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, $27,787 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 49 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 $34,700. 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 ($24,890 to $43,950) 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 $32,121 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 $27,787 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.