Median pay · Arkansas
$86,330A year. BLS publishes no hourly wage for this occupation.| Percentile | Annual | Hourly |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile1 in 10 earn less | $68,090 | Not published |
| 25th percentile | $80,670 | Not published |
| MedianHalf earn more, half less | $86,330 | Not published |
| 75th percentile | $102,440 | Not published |
| 90th percentile1 in 10 earn more | $107,410 | Not published |
| MeanAll pay divided by all jobs | $90,510 | Not published |
Wage survey · BLS May 2025
How we got this
- Median wage in ArkansasBLS OEWS May 2025. Half of the people in this job were paid more than this, half less.$86,330
- Take-home after federal, state and FICA tax$5,562 a month at an effective rate of 22.7%.$66,742 a year
- Worth at national average pricesPrices in Arkansas sit at 86.9 against a national 100 (BEA, 2024).$99,302
- Against the national medianThe national median is $105,870.18.5% below
- Jobs countedA concentration of 1 against the nation's 1.00.2,760
What we assumed
- Wages are BLS OEWS survey estimates for May 2025, not job postings or offers.
- OEWS surveys wage and salary workers. The self-employed and business owners are outside it.
- Take-home assumes one 2026 filer, filing single, taking the standard deduction, with no dependents, pre-tax retirement contributions or local income tax.
- BLS publishes only an annual wage for this occupation, because a standard 2,080-hour year would misdescribe it.
- Regional price parities compare price levels between places in one year. They are not inflation, and they do not adjust for what a household actually buys.
Technical details
Method occupation-wage-v1Data bls-oews-2025-05-v1, us-tax-2026-v1, bea-rpp-2024-v1, census-acs5-2024-v1
What lands in the bank
Tax year 2026 · InteractiveEstimated on the median salary of $86,330 in Arkansas, for a single filer taking the standard deduction in 2026. Explore other wage levels and filing statuses below.
Run the numbers on your own pay
Same U.S. tax tables as the rest of the site. Change the salary, state, or filing status.
What $86,330 is worth in Arkansas
Prices in Arkansas sit at 86.9 against a national average of 100, so $86,330 earned here buys what $99,302 buys at national average prices.
- Rents. 58.2 against 100, the component that moves most between states.
- Against local households. The median household in Arkansas takes in $60,773, so this occupation's median is 1.42 times that, on one income.
- How common the job is here. As concentrated in Arkansas as it is nationally.
Reading the numbers
What stands out for school principals or district administrators in Arkansas
Rents in Arkansas index at 58.2 (U.S. = 100) while prices overall index at 86.9, a gap of -28.7 pts. For a renter, housing moves the local cost of living more than anything else.
Prices in Arkansas index at 86.9 (U.S. = 100), so the $86,330 median buys roughly what $99,302 would at national prices, $12,972 more.
One median paycheck here is 1.4 times the median household income in Arkansas ($60,773), a figure that counts every earner in the home.
Even the lowest-paid 10% of school principals or district administrators in Arkansas make at least $68,090 a year.
Common questions
School Principal or District Administrator pay in Arkansas, answered
How much does a school principal or district administrator make in Arkansas?
The median wage for school principals or district administrators in Arkansas is $86,330 a year.
Half earn more than that and half earn less. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational wage survey for May 2025.
What is the average school principal or district administrator salary in Arkansas?
BLS’s mean (average) wage for school principals or district administrators in Arkansas is $90,510 a year. The median is $86,330.
The mean sits higher when a smaller group of high earners pulls the average up. For a typical paycheck, the median is the better middle.
What is the starting salary for a school principal or district administrator in Arkansas?
BLS does not publish starting pay. The closest figure it does publish is the low end of the range: in Arkansas, the lowest-paid 10% of school principals or district administrators earn under $68,090 a year and a quarter earn under $80,670.
New hires often start somewhere in that band, but the May 2025 survey does not record experience, so read it as a floor to compare an offer against rather than a typical first salary.
What is the salary range for a school principal or district administrator in Arkansas?
The overall salary range for school principals or district administrators in Arkansas spans from $68,090 for the bottom 10% to $107,410 for top earners.
The middle 50% earn between $80,670 and $102,440 a year, with the overall median at $86,330.
What is the take-home pay for a school principal or district administrator in Arkansas?
On the median wage of $86,330, a single filer taking the 2026 standard deduction keeps an estimated $66,742 a year, or roughly $5,562 a month.
That is after federal, state and FICA tax, an effective rate of 22.7%.
Arkansas takes $2,822 of it in state income tax.
How much does a school principal or district administrator make a month in Arkansas?
On the median annual salary of $86,330, estimated take-home pay is roughly $5,562 a month after federal, state, and FICA taxes.
For workers paid on a standard biweekly schedule (26 pay periods per year), each paycheck is approximately $2,567 net.
Do school principals or district administrators earn more in Arkansas than in the rest of the country?
No. The median in Arkansas is 18.5% below the national median of $105,870.
Nominal pay is only half the comparison: prices in Arkansas sit at 86.9 against a national 100, so the gap in what the money buys is different from the gap in the salary.
Is $86,330 a good salary in Arkansas?
It is 1.42 times the median household income of $60,773. A household often has more than one earner, so a single salary at this level goes further than the ratio alone suggests.
Prices in Arkansas run at 86.9 against a national average of 100, with rents at 58.2, so $86,330 here buys about what $99,302 buys at national average prices.
What do the highest-paid school principals or district administrators earn in Arkansas?
The top tenth earn $107,410 a year or more. The 10th-percentile wage is $68,090.
Experience, specialty, employer and the part of Arkansas someone works in all move a wage inside that range; the survey reports the spread, not the reason for it.
How many school principals or district administrators are there in Arkansas?
The survey counted 2,760 of these jobs in Arkansas for May 2025.
That makes the occupation exactly as concentrated here as nationally. It counts wage and salary jobs, so the self-employed are outside it.