Structural Metal Fabricators and Fitters in Arkansas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$34,264
after federal, FICA and Arkansas tax
Tax takes
$6,996
17.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$39,608
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
$41,260
Kept after tax
$34,264
Worth in national money
$39,608
State rank
46
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Arkansas. The middle earner gets $41,260. That is 46 of 47 states, and about 19.62% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against other work in Arkansas, this sits in the middle: 326 of 489 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $41,260 you keep $34,264 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $39,608 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $44,400, since top earners drag the number up.
- For structural metal fabricators and fitters, Arkansas sits in the lower band at $41,260, ranking 46 of 47 and trailing the national median by about 19.62%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Structural metal fabricators and fitters ranks 326 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.
- Retained pay in Arkansas is $34,264 after the full tax stack, from $41,260. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $39,608 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $44,400 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Structural Metal Fabricators and Fitters
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $32,230 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $41,260 |
| Top tenth earn over | $56,990 |
| This salary | $41,260 |
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 | $34,264 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $35,332 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,249 |
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 | $39,931 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,929 |
| 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 structural metal fabricators and fitters in Arkansas earn under $41,260 and half over. The published range runs $32,230 at the tenth percentile to $56,990 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Arkansas the take-home figure of $34,264, from $41,260, 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 326 of 489 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $39,608, the adjusted value of that $41,260 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 326 of 489 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for structural metal fabricators and fitters in Arkansas, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $32,230 to $56,990; 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.
- Take-home for Arkansas is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $34,264 from $41,260. 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 326 of 489 locally.
- This $39,608 adjusted figure, worked from $41,260, 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 326 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 326 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 $44,400, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $32,230 at the bottom tenth to $56,990 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $39,608.
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 $34,264 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 47 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 $44,400. 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 ($32,230 to $56,990) 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 $39,608 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 $34,264 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 47 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.