Special Education Teachers, Kindergarten and Elementary School in Arkansas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$44,252
after federal, FICA and Arkansas tax
Tax takes
$10,038
18.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$51,154
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
$54,290
Kept after tax
$44,252
Worth in national money
$51,154
State rank
47
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Arkansas. The middle earner gets $54,290. That is 47 of 51 states, and about 16.63% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against other work in Arkansas, this sits in the middle: 192 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 $54,290 the take-home is $44,252; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $51,154 would nationally. The average comes to $56,160, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For special education teachers, kindergarten and elementary school, Arkansas sits in the lower band at $54,290, ranking 47 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 16.63%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Special education teachers, kindergarten and elementary school ranks 192 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 special education teachers, kindergarten and elementary school in Arkansas, on $54,290, is $44,252 — equivalent to $51,154 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 $56,160 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Special Education Teachers, Kindergarten and Elementary School
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $49,890 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $54,290 |
| Top tenth earn over | $63,630 |
| This salary | $54,290 |
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 | $44,252 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $45,802 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$4,020 |
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 | $52,361 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,862 |
| 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 special education teachers, kindergarten and elementary school in Arkansas earn under $54,290 and half over. The published range runs $49,890 at the tenth percentile to $63,630 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $44,252 take-home in Arkansas comes from $54,290. 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 192 of 489.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $51,154 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 192.
- Figures are distribution medians for special education teachers, kindergarten and elementary school in Arkansas, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $49,890 to $63,630; 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.
- Retained pay of $44,252, from $54,290, 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 192 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 47 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $51,154, worked from $54,290, 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 192 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 $56,160 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $49,890 and the top tenth $63,630, so most people doing this work in Arkansas sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $51,154.
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 $44,252 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 $56,160. 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 ($49,890 to $63,630) 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 $51,154 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 $44,252 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.