Urban and Regional Planners in Arkansas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$51,334
after federal, FICA and Arkansas tax
Tax takes
$12,196
19.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$59,341
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
$63,530
Kept after tax
$51,334
Worth in national money
$59,341
State rank
49
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Arkansas is among the lower-paying states for urban and regional planners. The middle earner takes $63,530, ranking 49 of 51 states — about 28.87% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Urban and regional planners ranks 126 among 489 occupations Arkansas publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $63,530 you keep $51,334 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $59,341 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $65,950, since top earners drag the number up.
- Arkansas ranks 49 of 51 for urban and regional planners, with a median of $63,530 — about 28.87% 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.
- Position 126 of 489 in Arkansas places urban and regional planners in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Retained pay in Arkansas is $51,334 after the full tax stack, from $63,530. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $59,341 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $65,950 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Urban and Regional Planners
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $42,990 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $63,530 |
| Top tenth earn over | $95,960 |
| This salary | $63,530 |
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 | $51,334 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $53,226 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$4,567 |
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 | $61,175 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$5,886 |
| 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 urban and regional planners in Arkansas earn under $63,530 and half over. The published range runs $42,990 at the tenth percentile to $95,960 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 $51,334, worked from $63,530. 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 126 of 489.
- Two cautions on $59,341, the adjusted value of that $63,530 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 126 of 489 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for urban and regional planners in Arkansas, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $42,990 to $95,960; 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 $51,334, on $63,530 for work ranking 126 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 126 of 489 in the state.
- This $59,341 adjusted figure, worked from $63,530, 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 126 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 126 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 $65,950, 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $42,990 and the top tenth $95,960 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $59,341.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Arkansas then takes its own share, leaving $51,334.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like 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 $65,950. 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 ($42,990) and the ninetieth ($95,960) 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 $59,341 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 $51,334 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.