Arkansas stacks 4 marginal bands topping out at 3.9%, and a $75,000 single filer stops in the 3.9% band — $2,299 of state tax against $55,340 of take-home pay. Enter your own figures to walk them through the same schedule.
Federal tax, FICA, Arkansas state tax & 401(k) — prefilled for Arkansas
📈 Live: US inflation is currently 3.4% (CPI, August 2026) — rising prices erode the buying power of your take-home pay, so weigh it when comparing salaries or job offers across states.
Arkansas takes $2,299 out of a $75,000 salary, leaving $55,340 against $57,639 in no-wage-tax Texas. The doughnut shows how the rest of that gross divides.
Arkansas $55,340 vs Texas $57,639
Arkansas: take-home, federal, state & FICA
Calculation parameters: Single filer, zero dependents, zero additional withholdings, $75,000 annual salary, 24 pay periods. Modeled on the framework contained in State Text EDITED.docx.
The Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration manages a progressive tax system that has undergone aggressive legislative rate compressions. As of the most recent legislative sessions, the top marginal individual income tax rate has been compressed down to 3.9%.
Arkansas utilizes its own state standard deduction—historically fixed at $2,340 for single filers—which is significantly lower than the federal allowance. Consequently, a larger proportion of an employee's gross income is subjected to state taxation. Employees must file the Arkansas Form AR4EC to declare their withholding exemptions. Arkansas explicitly forbids its cities and counties from enacting local municipal income taxes.
Arkansas features a highly unique geographical payroll carve-out. Under the Border City Exemption, individuals who both reside and work within the city limits of Texarkana, Arkansas, are entirely exempt from Arkansas state income taxes. This statutory exemption exists to equalize the economic playing field with the adjacent, income-tax-free city of Texarkana, Texas. Employers located in Texarkana, AR must verify residency; if the employee lives outside the city limits, standard withholding rules apply immediately.
For supplemental wage payments like bonuses or commissions, Arkansas instructs employers to withhold at a flat rate of 3.9%, directly mirroring the state's newly reduced top marginal tax bracket. Arkansas fully conforms to the federal tax treatment of pre-tax retirement accounts; deferrals into a traditional 401(k) or 403(b) bypass both federal and state income tax withholding seamlessly. The state does not levy any employee-side payroll taxes for unemployment (SUI) or paid family medical leave (PFML).
4 marginal single-filer bands for 2025, running from 0% to 3.9% and applied to income after the $2,340 standard deduction. A $75,000 earner reaches band 4 of 4; only income above $15,600 ever meets the top rate.
| Taxable income (single) | Marginal rate |
|---|---|
| $0 to $5,500 | 0% |
| $5,500 to $10,900 | 2% |
| $10,900 to $15,600 | 3% |
| $15,600 and up | 3.9% |
Annual take-home at six salary points for a single filer deferring 6% into a 401(k). Watch the AR column accelerate from $1,016 to $6,881 as income climbs through Arkansas's 4 bands.
| Gross salary | Federal tax | AR state tax | FICA | Take-home /yr | Take-home /mo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $40,000 | $2,474 | $1,016 | $3,060 | $31,051 | $2,588 |
| $60,000 | $4,730 | $1,749 | $4,590 | $45,332 | $3,778 |
| $80,000 | $8,158 | $2,482 | $6,120 | $58,440 | $4,870 |
| $100,000 | $12,294 | $3,215 | $7,650 | $70,841 | $5,903 |
| $150,000 | $23,087 | $5,048 | $11,475 | $101,390 | $8,449 |
| $200,000 | $34,367 | $6,881 | $14,339 | $132,413 | $11,034 |
| Metric | Arkansas | No-tax state (TX) |
|---|---|---|
| State income tax (per year) | $2,299 | $0 |
| Federal income tax | $7,124 | $7,124 |
| Social Security + Medicare | $5,738 | $5,738 |
| Annual take-home pay | $55,340 | $57,639 |
| Effective total tax rate | 20.2% | 17.1% |
That $2,299 a year — about $192 a month — is what Arkansas's income tax costs against a state that charges none. On this salary it ranks 36th of 51 by state income tax paid, just behind Pennsylvania at 3.07%.
Take-home pay is gross salary minus five separate withholdings, each with its own rule and its own base. Two are federal and fixed nationwide, two are FICA payroll taxes with their own ceilings, and one is set by Arkansas. Arkansas uses a progressive schedule of 4 brackets topping out at 3.9%. On $59,000 the state collects $1,712 — an effective 2.9% of gross, not the headline 3.9%, because only the slice of income sitting inside each bracket is taxed at that bracket's rate. Arkansas's schedule is progressive in form but compressed in practice — the top rate of 3.9% is low enough that the state line stays modest at every income level. At $59,000 the marginal rate is 3.9%, and the difference between the bottom and top of the schedule is small enough that a raise barely changes the effective rate. Federal tax and FICA dominate the withholding here, together taking $9,130 against the state's $1,712. Note also that the 401(k) contribution comes out before federal income tax is computed but not before Social Security and Medicare — a detail that trips up most hand calculations.
Take-home = Gross − 401(k) − Federal income tax − Social Security − Medicare − State taxFederal = brackets applied to (gross − 401(k) − $15,000 standard deduction)State income tax = sum over brackets of (income in bracket × bracket rate), up to 3.9%where:
Assumptions: Single filer, standard deduction, 6% traditional 401(k), no other pre-tax benefits, credits or local income tax. Health premiums, HSA contributions and city taxes (where they exist) would each change the result. 2026 federal figures.
ReferenceIRS Publication 505
Rather than a round number, this example uses the salary Arkansas's own housing costs imply: a median-priced $205,000 home carries a $1,372 monthly payment, and the 28% front-end ratio lenders underwrite to puts that within reach at about $59,000 a year. Here is where that salary actually goes for a single filer contributing 6% to a traditional 401(k).
Result$44,618 a year — $3,718 a month, $1,716 per biweekly cheque
Total tax burden is $10,842, an effective 18.4% of gross — of which Arkansas takes 2.9%. The $3,540 401(k) deferral is not a tax; it is still your money.
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