Surveyors in Arkansas

A pale wooden scale model and metal measuring tools on an engineering workbench.

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$42,343

after federal, FICA and Arkansas tax

Tax takes

$9,457

18.3% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$48,947

Arkansas costs less than average

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

$51,800

Kept after tax

$42,343

Worth in national money

$48,947

State rank

50

of 50 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • Pay for surveyors is on the low side in Arkansas. The middle earner gets $51,800. That is 50 of 50 states, and about 31.34% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
  • Against other work in Arkansas, this sits in the middle: 205 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 $51,800 the take-home is $42,343; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $48,947 would nationally. The average comes to $58,160, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
  • For surveyors, Arkansas sits in the lower band at $51,800, ranking 50 of 50 and trailing the national median by about 31.34%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
  • Surveyors ranks 205 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 surveyors in Arkansas, on $51,800, is $42,343 — equivalent to $48,947 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 $58,160 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.

Compare this career across states

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Pay band: Surveyors

The state median for this job

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$36,380
Half earn under$51,800
Top tenth earn over$91,610
This salary$51,800

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

Compare with
+$1,458take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in Arkansas$42,343
Take-home in Texas$43,801
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity−$3,873

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

Moving to
$0$56,484
$56,484in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$49,985
Raise you would need+$4,684
Prices in Texas97 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 $51,800. The published range is $36,380 up to $91,610, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
  • In Arkansas the take-home figure of $42,343, from $51,800, 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 205 of 489 occupations here.
  • One number stands for prices across all of Arkansas, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $48,947, the adjusted value of that $51,800 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 205 of 489 in the state.
  • Reported values are medians; for surveyors in Arkansas the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $36,380 to $91,610. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
  • Take-home for Arkansas is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $42,343 from $51,800. 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 205 of 489 locally.
  • Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Arkansas, so $48,947 — the adjusted value of that $51,800 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 205 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 $58,160, 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?

One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $36,380, the highest tenth $91,610, 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 $48,947 in national terms.

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, $42,343 remains.

Why is this job missing from some states?

A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.

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 $58,160. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?

Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($36,380) and the ninetieth ($91,610) 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 $48,947 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 $42,343 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.