The highest paying job in Arkansas is Psychiatrists, with a median salary of $195,430 per year. Below is the complete ranking of the top 25 careers in AR based on 2024 Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
Data: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2024
Ranked by median annual salary. Click any job to see the full salary breakdown including percentile data and state-by-state comparisons.
| Rank | Occupation | Median Salary | Mean Salary | Workers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Psychiatrists | $195,430 | $215,360 | 90 |
| 2 | Judges, Magistrate Judges, and Magistrates | $192,910 | $181,800 | 220 |
| 3 | Health Specialties Teachers, Postsecondary | $178,830 | $160,210 | 1,980 |
| 4 | Dentists, All Other Specialists | $175,720 | $188,920 | 70 |
| 5 | Dentists, General | $172,490 | $178,290 | 990 |
| 6 | Airline Pilot | $165,980 | $158,600 | 340 |
| 7 | Biochemists and Biophysicists | $143,490 | $109,180 | 100 |
| 8 | Public Relations Managers | $140,970 | $158,470 | 260 |
| 9 | Natural Sciences Managers | $134,430 | $156,220 | 320 |
| 10 | Nurse Anesthetists | $134,230 | $138,740 | 320 |
| 11 | Pharmacist | $134,230 | $132,090 | 3,100 |
| 12 | Architectural and Engineering Managers | $132,660 | $140,790 | 960 |
| 13 | Physicists | $131,880 | $139,970 | 80 |
| 14 | Marketing Manager | $127,320 | $135,600 | 1,530 |
| 15 | Computer Hardware Engineers | $122,860 | $131,810 | 40 |
| 16 | Chief Executives | $121,220 | $177,460 | 2,270 |
| 17 | Sales Manager | $119,990 | $147,840 | 3,350 |
| 18 | Psychologists, All Other | $118,600 | $101,380 | 90 |
| 19 | Computer and Information Systems Managers | $118,230 | $128,400 | 3,030 |
| 20 | Industrial Production Managers | $116,670 | $124,380 | 2,430 |
| 21 | Purchasing Managers | $116,060 | $135,590 | 760 |
| 22 | Power Distributors and Dispatchers | $113,770 | $114,600 | 230 |
| 23 | Nurse Practitioners | $113,660 | $116,030 | 3,350 |
| 24 | Podiatrists | $113,580 | $136,460 | N/A |
| 25 | Computer Network Architects | $109,900 | $121,150 | 960 |
Average Salary in Arkansas · All Arkansas Jobs · Build Your Resume →
The top-paying careers in Arkansas are concentrated in Healthcare Practitioners fields. The #1 job, Psychiatrists, pays $136,397 more than the state average of $59,032 per year.
Among the top 25, the minimum median salary is $109,900, meaning all jobs on this list pay significantly above the national average.
See how Arkansas's top salaries compare to other states.
Rankings are based on median annual salary from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, May 2024 estimates. We use median rather than mean salary because it better represents typical earnings and is less affected by outliers.
Only occupations with state-level data published by BLS are included. Some specialized or rare occupations may not have data for every state. For full methodology details, see our Methodology page.