Project Management Specialists in Arkansas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$60,722
after federal, FICA and Arkansas tax
Tax takes
$16,448
21.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$70,193
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
$77,170
Kept after tax
$60,722
Worth in national money
$70,193
State rank
51
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Arkansas pays project management specialists a middle wage of $77,170, 51 of 51 states and about 24.58% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Arkansas. It ranks 78 out of 489 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $77,170 you keep $60,722 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $70,193 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $84,850, since top earners drag the number up.
- Arkansas's $77,170 median for project management specialists places it 51 of 51 states, about 24.58% 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.
- Within Arkansas, project management specialists ranks 78 of 489 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Retained pay in Arkansas is $60,722 after the full tax stack, from $77,170. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $70,193 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $84,850 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Project Management Specialists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $47,620 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $77,170 |
| Top tenth earn over | $133,420 |
| This salary | $77,170 |
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 | $60,722 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $63,119 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$5,239 |
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 | $73,763 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$7,236 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 87 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of project management specialists in Arkansas earn under $77,170 and half over. The published range runs $47,620 at the tenth percentile to $133,420 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Arkansas's $60,722, worked from $77,170. 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 78 of 489.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $70,193 uses one figure for the whole of Arkansas. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 489 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 78.
- Figures are distribution medians for project management specialists in Arkansas, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $47,620 to $133,420; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- The Arkansas take-home of $60,722, on $77,170 for work ranking 78 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 78 of 489 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $70,193, worked from $77,170, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Arkansas address, on work sitting at 78 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 $84,850 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $47,620, the highest tenth $133,420, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $70,193.
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 $60,722 of this wage survives to your account.
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 $84,850. 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 ($47,620) and the ninetieth ($133,420) 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 $70,193 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 $60,722 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.