Psychology Teachers, Postsecondary in Arkansas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$49,188
after federal, FICA and Arkansas tax
Tax takes
$11,542
19.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$56,860
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
$60,730
Kept after tax
$49,188
Worth in national money
$56,860
State rank
50
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Arkansas is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $60,730, ranking 50 of 50 states — about 24.41% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Against other work in Arkansas, this sits in the middle: 147 of 489 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Arkansas is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $60,730 the take-home is $49,188; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $56,860 would nationally. The average comes to $72,630, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Arkansas ranks 50 of 50 for psychology teachers, postsecondary, with a median of $60,730 — about 24.41% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Psychology teachers, postsecondary ranks 147 of 489 occupations in Arkansas by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Post-tax income for psychology teachers, postsecondary in Arkansas, on $60,730, is $49,188 — equivalent to $56,860 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $72,630 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Psychology Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $46,320 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $60,730 |
| Top tenth earn over | $96,720 |
| This salary | $60,730 |
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 | $49,188 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $50,977 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$4,401 |
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 | $58,504 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$5,323 |
| 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 $60,730. The published range is $46,320 up to $96,720, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $49,188 take-home in Arkansas comes from $60,730. 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 147 of 489.
- Two cautions on $56,860, the adjusted value of that $60,730 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 147 of 489 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for psychology teachers, postsecondary in Arkansas the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $46,320 to $96,720. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $49,188, from $60,730, 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 147 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 50 of 50 for it.
- This $56,860 adjusted figure, worked from $60,730, 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 147 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 147 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 $72,630, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $46,320 and the top tenth $96,720 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $56,860.
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 $49,188 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 50 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $72,630. 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 ($46,320) and the ninetieth ($96,720) 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 $56,860 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 $49,188 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.