Fort Smith, AR-OK Salaries
Local wages where BEA prices sit below the US average (RPP 85.9) - BLS OEWS May 2025
Observed metro pay change
What changed, BLS OEWS 2024–2025
- BLS's published All Occupations median in Fort Smith, AR-OK moved from $38,340 in May 2024 to $39,560 in May 2025 (+3.2%).
- Across the 393 metros priced in both releases, the median place changed +3.1%.
- Fort Smith, AR-OK sits +0.1 pp near that median, nominal dollars, no price deflator applied.
Based on wage level, year-over-year wage growth, and regional-price-parity-adjusted purchasing power from BLS and BEA sources, not job availability, industry mix, or day-to-day livability.
General and Operations Managers shows the widest metro-area vs national median gap in Fort Smith, AR-OK
General and Operations Managers publishes $70,330 here versus $105,770 nationally (-33.5%; 2,320metro-area jobs). Next is Fast Food and Counter Workers at $23,760 locally versus $31,200 nationally (-23.8%).
- General and Operations Managers$70,330 in Fort Smith, AR-OK sits 33.5% below the national General and Operations Managers median of $105,770 (2,320 published local jobs).
- Fast Food and Counter Workers$23,760 in Fort Smith, AR-OK sits 23.8% below the national Fast Food and Counter Workers median of $31,200 (2,760 published local jobs).
- Home Health and Personal Care Aides$28,410 in Fort Smith, AR-OK sits 20.6% below the national Home Health and Personal Care Aides median of $35,800 (2,240 published local jobs).
- Retail Salespersons$28,350 in Fort Smith, AR-OK sits 19.9% below the national Retail Salespersons median of $35,410 (2,880 published local jobs).
General and Operations Managers and the other occupations above are descriptive OEWS endpoints for Fort Smith, AR-OK; they are not findings about taxes, employers, or worker experience.
BLS OEWS metro wage desk
MSA 22900 · Fort Smith, AR-OK $50K mean
MEAN-TRACE · RPP-QUIET · OCC-MID · TOP-LEAD · EMP-MIX · TREND-INLINE · PHOTO-FINISH · BOOK-FULL
- MEAN-TRACE #479/528
- RPP-QUIET 85.9
- OCC-MID 302 occs
- TOP-LEAD Physicians, Al… · $258K
- EMP-MIX Financial Ma…
- TREND-INLINE +0.1 pp
- PHOTO-FINISH Cleveland, TN
- BOOK-FULL 301 rows · May 2025
Read with Cleveland, TN ($59 on published-row mean) · Salary vs. cost of living
Instrument codes from this MSA’s OEWS published-row mean, BEA RPP, occupation book, employment lead, All Occupations pay change, and nearest peer, not a moving recommendation.
Published-row mean neighbourhood around Fort Smith, AR-OK
Where Fort Smith, AR-OK already employs the upper wage tier
Financial Managers and Managers, All Other lead published employment inside Fort Smith, AR-OK's top-pay sample, order follows OEWS job counts, not median wage.
- 1. Financial Managers 460 jobs · $104,990
- 2. Managers, All Other 360 jobs · $98,500
- 3. Nurse Practitioners 270 jobs · $129,270
- 4. Sales Managers 230 jobs · $99,110
- 5. Industrial Production Managers 220 jobs · $106,520
- 6. Chief Executives 210 jobs · $114,550
- 7. Software Developers 200 jobs · $114,140
- 8. Computer and Information Systems Managers 190 jobs · $114,760
- 9. Physicians, All Other 170 jobs · $258,130
- 10. Pharmacists 160 jobs · $133,520
- 11. Physical Therapists 160 jobs · $98,730
- 12. Industrial Engineers 150 jobs · $97,460
- 13. Occupational Therapists 140 jobs · $97,740
- 14. Civil Engineers 110 jobs · $100,330
- 15. Dentists, General 100 jobs · $165,060
- 16. Architectural and Engineering Managers 100 jobs · $131,100
- 17. Human Resources Managers 100 jobs · $103,580
- 18. Diagnostic Medical Sonographers 80 jobs · $100,140
Occupations Tracked
302
with wage data
Published-Row Mean
$49,848
employment-weighted, 301 complete rows
Top Salary
$258,130
Physicians, All Other
Cost of Living
85.9
14% below US avg
Top-pay occupations in Fort Smith, AR-OK, by employment
Same top-pay sample as the salary ranking, sorted by published local jobs so the title sequence follows the OEWS mix.
| # | Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Financial Managers | $104,990 |
| 2 | Managers, All Other | $98,500 |
| 3 | Nurse Practitioners | $129,270 |
| 4 | Sales Managers | $99,110 |
| 5 | Industrial Production Managers | $106,520 |
| 6 | Chief Executives | $114,550 |
| 7 | Software Developers | $114,140 |
| 8 | Computer and Information Systems Managers | $114,760 |
| 9 | Physicians, All Other | $258,130 |
| 10 | Pharmacists | $133,520 |
| 11 | Physical Therapists | $98,730 |
| 12 | Industrial Engineers | $97,460 |
| 13 | Occupational Therapists | $97,740 |
| 14 | Civil Engineers | $100,330 |
| 15 | Dentists, General | $165,060 |
| 16 | Architectural and Engineering Managers | $131,100 |
| 17 | Human Resources Managers | $103,580 |
| 18 | Diagnostic Medical Sonographers | $100,140 |
| 19 | Physician Assistants | $119,840 |
| 20 | Purchasing Managers | $125,330 |
| 21 | Facilities Managers | $103,300 |
| 22 | Computer Network Architects | $114,270 |
| 23 | Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers | $170,960 |
| 24 | Optometrists | $109,200 |
| 25 | Veterinarians | $104,110 |
Lowest Paying Jobs in Fort Smith, AR-OK
| Occupation | Median Salary |
|---|---|
| Waiters and Waitresses | $23,680 |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | $23,760 |
| Bartenders | $23,830 |
| Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop | $24,140 |
| Recreation Workers | $25,690 |
| Cooks, Fast Food | $26,480 |
| Dishwashers | $26,630 |
| Library Technicians | $26,790 |
| Food Preparation Workers | $26,900 |
| Amusement and Recreation Attendants | $26,930 |
Other BLS Wage Areas in AR
Other metropolitan or nonmetropolitan OEWS areas assigned to the same state. Cross-state pay and employment peers live in Nationwide similar metros below.
Nationwide metros with similar published-row mean pay or employment scale
Two OEWS peer sets outside AR. Same-state wage areas above stay geographic; these neighborhoods are cross-state nearest neighbors on employment-weighted published-row mean wage ($49,848 here) and summed published employment.
Similar mean wage
Nearest other metros by employment-weighted published-row annual mean wage.
Peers are nearest-neighbor matches on BLS OEWS employment-weighted published-row mean wage and summed occupation employment. Employment peers exclude metros already listed in the mean-wage column so the two link sets stay distinct. Mean wage here is not a worker-level median.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the lower price level do to Fort Smith, AR-OK wage reading? ▼
What is the highest paying job in Fort Smith, AR-OK? ▼
What jobs pay the least in Fort Smith, AR-OK? ▼
Which federal tables feed Fort Smith, AR-OK's wage and price figures? ▼
Related federal data
What to do with this data
How to use Fort Smith, AR-OK wage figures in a real decision
- Physicians, All Other leads published medians in Fort Smith, AR-OK at $258,130/year; open the occupation for percentile bands and state rows. Physicians, All Other
- The employment-weighted published-row mean of $49,848 adjusts to about $58,038 on a national-price basis at BEA RPP 85.9. Salary vs cost of living
- Compare this metropolitan statistical area against the statewide occupation table for AR before treating one geography as the other. State wage page
BLS OEWS estimates reflect the May 2025 reference period; small occupation-area cells can be suppressed, and figures are not employer offers.
Source data and WageDex calculations are identified in context on this page. Occupation rows use BLS OEWS May 2025. The metro benchmark is WageDex's employment-weighted mean of published occupation means; where BEA RPP is available, the price-level figure divides that benchmark by the published area parity. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.