Public Relations Specialists in Arkansas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$52,461
after federal, FICA and Arkansas tax
Tax takes
$12,539
19.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$60,643
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
$65,000
Kept after tax
$52,461
Worth in national money
$60,643
State rank
29
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Arkansas sits in the middle of the pack for public relations specialists. The median is $65,000, ranking 29 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Arkansas. It ranks 115 out of 489 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Arkansas is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $65,000 the take-home is $52,461; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $60,643 would nationally. The average comes to $77,080, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Arkansas occupies the middle band for public relations specialists: a median of $65,000, ranking 29 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Within Arkansas, public relations specialists ranks 115 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.
- Post-tax income for public relations specialists in Arkansas, on $65,000, is $52,461 — equivalent to $60,643 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 $77,080 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Public Relations Specialists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $39,170 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $65,000 |
| Top tenth earn over | $137,190 |
| This salary | $65,000 |
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 | $52,461 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $54,408 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$4,654 |
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 | $62,578 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$6,215 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 87 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $65,000 as a midpoint for Arkansas, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $39,170 and the ninetieth is $137,190 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Arkansas the take-home figure of $52,461, from $65,000, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 115 of 489 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $60,643 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 115.
- The Arkansas median of $65,000 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $39,170 to $137,190. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Arkansas is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $52,461 from $65,000. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 115 of 489 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $60,643, worked from $65,000, 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 115 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 $77,080 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 $39,170, the highest tenth $137,190, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $60,643 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 $52,461 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 $77,080. 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 ($39,170) and the ninetieth ($137,190) 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 $60,643 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 $52,461 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.