Software Developers in Arkansas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$78,931
after federal, FICA and Arkansas tax
Tax takes
$25,559
24.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$91,241
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
$104,490
Kept after tax
$78,931
Worth in national money
$91,241
State rank
47
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Arkansas is among the lower-paying states for software developers. The middle earner takes $104,490, ranking 47 of 50 states — about 23.16% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 489 occupations Arkansas reports, software developers comes in at 28 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Arkansas is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $104,490 the take-home is $78,931; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $91,241 would nationally. The average comes to $109,590, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Arkansas ranks 47 of 50 for software developers, with a median of $104,490 — about 23.16% 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.
- Software developers ranks 28 of 489 occupations by median in Arkansas, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Post-tax income for software developers in Arkansas, on $104,490, is $78,931 — equivalent to $91,241 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 $109,590 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Software Developers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $60,570 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $104,490 |
| Top tenth earn over | $162,380 |
| This salary | $104,490 |
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 | $78,931 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $82,339 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$6,509 |
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 | $99,646 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$8,991 |
| 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 software developers in Arkansas earn under $104,490 and half over. The published range runs $60,570 at the tenth percentile to $162,380 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 $78,931, worked from $104,490. 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 28 of 489.
- One number stands for prices across all of Arkansas, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $91,241, the adjusted value of that $104,490 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 28 of 489 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for software developers in Arkansas, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $60,570 to $162,380; 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 $78,931, on $104,490 for work ranking 28 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 28 of 489 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Arkansas, so $91,241 — the adjusted value of that $104,490 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 28 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $109,590, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $60,570 at the bottom tenth to $162,380 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $91,241.
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, $78,931 remains.
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 50 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $109,590. 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 ($60,570) and the ninetieth ($162,380) 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 $91,241 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 $78,931 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.