Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators in Arkansas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$36,610
after federal, FICA and Arkansas tax
Tax takes
$7,710
17.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$42,320
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
$44,320
Kept after tax
$36,610
Worth in national money
$42,320
State rank
50
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Arkansas. The middle earner gets $44,320. That is 50 of 50 states, and about 26.16% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 299 among 489 occupations Arkansas publishes pay for.
- Here is where Arkansas does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $44,320 you keep $36,610, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $42,320 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $45,590, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators, Arkansas sits in the lower band at $44,320, ranking 50 of 50 and trailing the national median by about 26.16%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Position 299 of 489 in Arkansas places water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators 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.
- After federal, FICA and Arkansas income tax, retained pay for water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators on $44,320 is $36,610. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $42,320 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $45,590 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,480 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $44,320 |
| Top tenth earn over | $61,780 |
| This salary | $44,320 |
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 | $36,610 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $37,791 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,430 |
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 | $42,850 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,148 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 87 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $44,320 as a midpoint for Arkansas, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $31,480 and the ninetieth is $61,780 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $36,610 take-home in Arkansas comes from $44,320. 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 299 of 489.
- One number stands for prices across all of Arkansas, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $42,320, the adjusted value of that $44,320 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 299 of 489 in the state.
- The Arkansas median of $44,320 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $31,480 to $61,780. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $36,610, from $44,320, 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 299 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 50 of 50 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Arkansas, so $42,320 — the adjusted value of that $44,320 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 299 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $31,480 at the bottom tenth to $61,780 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 $42,320.
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, $36,610 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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($31,480 to $61,780) 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 $42,320 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 $36,610 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.