Arkansas has five brackets, and four of them are used up before $27,000 of taxable income. A single filer earning $85,000 reaches the top 3.9% rate at $26,400 and stays there for the remaining $56,000 — which makes Arkansas graduated in name and close to flat in effect for anyone earning a professional salary.
On $85,000 a single filer pays $2,799 and takes home $65,829.
A note before you start. This is general education, not tax advice. Federal figures are tax year 2026, from IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32 and the Social Security Administration; Arkansas's brackets, deduction and retirement rules come from this site's own sourced 50-state dataset, citing the Department of Finance and Administration's own forms and instructions. Every dollar figure is computed by the same engine the site's calculators use, on a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependents or pre-tax deferrals unless stated. Sales tax and property tax are discussed qualitatively.
1. What Arkansas takes
| Amount on $85,000 | |
|---|---|
| Gross salary | $85,000 |
| Federal income tax | −$9,870 |
| Social Security (6.2%) | −$5,270 |
| Medicare (1.45%) | −$1,233 |
| Arkansas income tax | −$2,799 |
| Take-home | $65,829 |
Across incomes, single filer:
| Salary | Arkansas tax | Effective AR rate | Take-home |
|---|---|---|---|
| $30,000 | $654 | 2.18% | $24,631 |
| $45,000 | $1,239 | 2.75% | $37,099 |
| $60,000 | $1,824 | 3.04% | $48,566 |
| $85,000 | $2,799 | 3.29% | $65,829 |
| $120,000 | $4,164 | 3.47% | $89,086 |
| $175,000 | $6,309 | 3.61% | $124,570 |
The effective rate barely moves above $60,000, and that is the shape of a graduated tax whose top bracket starts low. Between $60,000 and $175,000 the salary nearly triples while the effective rate rises from 3.04% to 3.61%. Arkansas behaves like a 3.9% flat tax for everyone above about $30,000.
Run your own salary against Arkansas's brackets2. The brackets, and why they run out so fast
| Taxable income above | Rate |
|---|---|
| $0 | 0% |
| $5,600 | 2.0% |
| $11,200 | 3.0% |
| $16,000 | 3.4% |
| $26,400 | 3.9% |
Four rate changes inside $27,000. For a single filer on $85,000 the picture is:
- The standard deduction shelters $2,470.
- Taxable income is $82,530.
- The first $5,600 is free.
- $5,600 to $26,400 is taxed at 2.0%, 3.0% and 3.4% in slices.
- The remaining $56,130 — 68% of taxable income — is taxed at 3.9%.
So the top rate does almost all the work. The graduated structure is worth $420 to this earner relative to a flat 3.9% on the whole of taxable income. Meaningful, and not what "five brackets" suggests.
The same thresholds apply to every filing status. Arkansas does not widen its brackets for married couples, which is unusual and has a consequence taken up in the next section.
3. Filing jointly
| Salary | Single AR tax | Joint AR tax | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| $30,000 | $654 | $564 | $90 |
| $45,000 | $1,239 | $1,142 | $97 |
| $60,000 | $1,824 | $1,727 | $97 |
| $85,000 | $2,799 | $2,702 | $97 |
| $120,000 | $4,164 | $4,067 | $97 |
| $175,000 | $6,309 | $6,212 | $97 |
$97. That is the entire joint-filing benefit in Arkansas at almost every income.
The reason is that Arkansas's bracket thresholds are identical for single and married-joint filers. The only thing that doubles is the standard deduction — $2,470 to $4,940 — and 3.9% of the extra $2,470 is $96.33.
Set that against other states. Minnesota's joint benefit at $85,000 is $1,264. Maine's is $1,535. Georgia's is $748. Arkansas's is $97.
Why it matters practically: in most states, a couple with one earner does substantially better than two singles on half the income each. In Arkansas they do essentially the same. If you are comparing an Arkansas offer against one in a state with doubled brackets, the single-filer comparison understates the gap for a married couple.
4. What the paycheck actually looks like
On $85,000 as a single filer:
| Pay schedule | Gross per cheque | Net per cheque |
|---|---|---|
| Weekly (52) | $1,634.62 | $1,265.94 |
| Biweekly (26) | $3,269.23 | $2,531.88 |
| Semi-monthly (24) | $3,541.67 | $2,742.87 |
| Monthly (12) | $7,083.33 | $5,485.74 |
Biweekly and semi-monthly are not the same thing. Biweekly is 26 cheques — every other Friday — so two months a year carry three paydays. Semi-monthly is 24, on fixed dates, so every month carries exactly two. The annual total is identical; the monthly cash flow is not, and a biweekly earner budgeting on "two cheques a month" is under-counting by $5,064 a year that arrives in two windfall months.
What a real stub adds: pre-tax health premiums under a Section 125 plan come off before both taxes and reduce FICA wages; 401(k) deferrals reduce federal and Arkansas taxable income but not FICA wages; and withholding is an estimate against the W-4 and AR4EC you filed, not the tax itself.
5. The $2,470 deduction is the story
Arkansas's standard deduction is $2,470 for a single filer and $4,940 filing jointly. The federal figure is $16,100.
Arkansas shelters about 15% of what the federal government shelters. That is among the smallest state standard deductions in the country, and it is the single most important fact about the state's income tax.
Here is what it does. Compare two states with similar top rates:
| Arkansas | Iowa | |
|---|---|---|
| Top rate | 3.9% | 3.8% |
| Standard deduction (single) | $2,470 | $16,100 |
| Tax on $85,000 | $2,799 | $2,578 |
| Tax on $30,000 | $654 | $488 |
Iowa's rate is slightly lower and its deduction is more than six times larger — and yet the gap at $85,000 is only $221, because Arkansas's graduated slices give back at the bottom what its deduction fails to shelter. At $30,000 the gap is $166.
The deduction matters most where it is a large share of income. A $13,630 deduction difference at 3.9% is worth $532 a year, and that is the size of the whole comparison.
One planning consequence: because the Arkansas deduction is so small, itemising crosses over at a much lower level of deductions than it does federally. An Arkansas filer with mortgage interest, state taxes paid and charitable contributions may itemise for Arkansas while taking the standard deduction federally — the two decisions are genuinely separate here, where in most states they move together.
6. Two things this figure leaves out, in your favour
Arkansas's return carries two features that reduce the bill below what the brackets alone produce, and neither is modelled in the figures above. Both cut the same way — the real number is lower, never higher — so the table in section 1 is an upper bound on the bracket path rather than a prediction.
The low income tax table. Arkansas publishes a separate tax table for filers below an income threshold, which produces a lower liability than the standard rate schedule. Whether it applies depends on your filing status and income, and where it applies it can reduce the tax to zero. Anyone in the $30,000 row of the table above should check it rather than take that $654 as final.
The personal tax credit. Arkansas allows a per-filer credit — a flat dollar amount that comes off the tax itself, with additional amounts for a spouse and for each dependent. Because it is a credit rather than a deduction, it is worth the same dollars to every filer regardless of rate: the same amount to someone at 2% as to someone at 3.9%.
Why credits behave differently from deductions, in one line: a $100 deduction saves you your rate — $3.90 at Arkansas's top rate. A $100 credit saves you $100. That is a factor of twenty-five, and it is why a state with modest rates and real credits can be cheaper in practice than one with lower rates and none.
What that means for the comparison in section 5. Arkansas's small standard deduction looks worse against Iowa's than it is, because Arkansas gives back through credits what it withholds through the deduction — and credits favour lower earners, where a deduction favours higher-rate ones. Two states can arrive at similar bills by opposite routes, and the route determines who wins.
None of this changes the $85,000 figure much, because both features are aimed at lower incomes. It changes the $30,000 figure a great deal.
7. The 50% capital gains exclusion
Arkansas is one of the minority of states with a real long-term capital gains preference, and it is generous.
Only 50% of net long-term capital gain is taxed. Form AR1000D states it directly: if the result is a gain, multiply by 50 percent.
At the 3.9% top rate that makes the effective Arkansas rate on a long-term gain 1.95% — lower than the rate on ordinary income in all but a handful of states.
| Realised long-term gain | At 3.9% on the whole gain | With the 50% exclusion |
|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $1,950 | $975 |
| $200,000 | $7,800 | $3,900 |
| $500,000 | $19,500 | $9,750 |
On a $500,000 gain the exclusion is worth $9,750. For a business sale, a farm sale, or an investment property unwound after decades, this is the largest single tax feature in Arkansas law for that household — and it is invisible in any comparison that ranks states by their top ordinary rate.
Short-term gains get nothing. The exclusion is for net long-term gain, so the holding period does real work.
8. Retirement: the $6,000 that is not what it looks like
Arkansas's retirement treatment has one number and two rules that do not match each other, and the mismatch is where people go wrong.
Social Security is fully exempt. No income threshold, no age condition. The AR1000F instructions list Social Security among exempt income alongside VA benefits, workers' compensation and railroad retirement.
Employer-sponsored retirement plans get a flat $6,000 exemption per taxpayer — and private and public pensions are treated identically, which is the opposite of the usual pattern where public employees get better treatment.
IRAs get the same $6,000 — but only from age 59½. The age trigger applies to IRA distributions and not to employer plan distributions. That asymmetry is the trap: someone taking an early distribution from a 401(k) and an early distribution from an IRA in the same year gets the exemption on one and not the other.
| Retirement income, single | Arkansas tax |
|---|---|
| $40,000 all Social Security | $0 |
| $40,000 all 401(k) withdrawals | About $810 |
| $70,000 — $30,000 SS + $40,000 401(k) | About $810 |
Per taxpayer, not per return. A married couple with two people each drawing an employer pension gets $12,000, not $6,000. A couple where only one has a pension gets $6,000.
There is no estate or inheritance tax.
9. No local income tax
No Arkansas city or county levies a personal income tax, and this is confirmed structurally rather than assumed: the AR1000F return and its instructions carry no local income tax line, no local withholding, and no credit for local income tax paid.
Arkansas local government revenue comes from local sales and use taxes levied on top of the 6.5% state rate, and from property tax.
Two consequences for a take-home figure:
No asterisk on the paycheck. Unlike Missouri next door, where Kansas City and St. Louis levy earnings taxes, or Tennessee's neighbour Kentucky, where local occupational taxes on wages are near-universal, an Arkansas figure is complete as stated.
A large asterisk on the shopping bill. Arkansas's combined state and local sales tax rates are among the higher ones in the country. Groceries are taxed at a reduced state rate with local rates applying on top.
That is the trade Arkansas makes: a modest income tax with a small deduction, and a heavy reliance on sales tax. It falls hardest on households that spend most of what they earn, and lightest on high earners with high savings rates.
10. Where Arkansas ranks
At $85,000, Arkansas's $2,799 is tenth-lowest of the 41 income-tax states:
| State | Tax on $85,000 |
|---|---|
| North Dakota | $377 |
| Ohio | $1,621 |
| Arizona | $1,731 |
| Louisiana | $2,164 |
| Indiana | $2,478 |
| Rhode Island | $2,571 |
| Iowa | $2,578 |
| Pennsylvania | $2,610 |
| Mississippi | $2,668 |
| Arkansas | $2,799 |
| Missouri | $3,058 |
| Oklahoma | $3,280 |
Against its six neighbours:
| Salary | AR | MO | OK | LA | MS | TN / TX |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $45,000 | $1,239 | $1,178 | $1,480 | $964 | $1,068 | $0 |
| $85,000 | $2,799 | $3,058 | $3,280 | $2,164 | $2,668 | $0 |
| $175,000 | $6,309 | $7,288 | $7,330 | $4,864 | $6,268 | $0 |
Arkansas is cheaper than Missouri and Oklahoma at $85,000 and more expensive than Louisiana and Mississippi. At $45,000 it is more expensive than Missouri, and the ordering flips — which is the recurring lesson of this series: a state's rank depends on the salary you ask about.
Tennessee and Texas both take nothing, and both border Arkansas. That is a $2,799 annual difference at $85,000 for a move across the Mississippi or the Red River, against which Arkansas's lower housing costs are the counterweight.
The Memphis metropolitan area makes this concrete. Someone working in Memphis and living in West Memphis, Arkansas pays Arkansas tax on that income; someone living on the Tennessee side pays none. The state line runs down the middle of a single labour market, and $2,799 a year is roughly $233 a month — real, and smaller than the housing cost difference between many pairs of neighbourhoods within either metro.
The same applies at Texarkana, which straddles the Arkansas–Texas line so completely that it is one city with two municipal governments. There, the income tax question is decided by which side of a street you buy on.
11. What you can control
Pre-tax deferrals save 3.9% at state level for anyone above $26,400 of taxable income, on top of the federal rate. A $10,000 traditional 401(k) contribution saves an $85,000 earner $2,200 federally plus $390 in Arkansas tax.
HSA contributions through payroll cut federal tax, Arkansas tax and FICA. On $4,400 that is roughly $968 federal, $172 Arkansas and $337 FICA — about $1,477, or 34% of the amount contributed.
Itemising for Arkansas while taking the federal standard deduction is a genuinely live option here because the state deduction is only $2,470. Run both.
Holding for long-term treatment is worth more in Arkansas than in most states, because of the 50% exclusion in section 6.
And the $6,000 retirement exemption is per taxpayer, which affects how a couple sequences withdrawals in retirement.
Frequently asked questions
What is Arkansas's income tax rate? Five brackets from 0% to 3.9%, with the top rate beginning at $26,400 of taxable income. The same thresholds apply to every filing status.
What is take-home pay on $85,000 in Arkansas? $65,829 for a single filer taking the standard deduction, after $9,870 federal income tax, $6,503 FICA and $2,799 Arkansas income tax.
Why is Arkansas's standard deduction so small? It is $2,470 single and $4,940 joint against a federal $16,100 — among the smallest in the country. It is the main reason a 3.9% top rate produces a mid-table bill rather than a low one.
How much is the joint filing benefit in Arkansas? $97 a year at almost every income, because Arkansas does not widen its brackets for married couples. Only the standard deduction doubles.
Does Arkansas tax capital gains? Only half of them. Arkansas taxes 50% of net long-term capital gain, giving an effective rate of 1.95%. Short-term gains get no exclusion.
Does Arkansas tax retirement income? Social Security is fully exempt. Employer plans and IRAs share a flat $6,000 exemption per taxpayer — but the age-59½ trigger applies to IRA distributions and not to employer plan distributions. There is no estate or inheritance tax.
Can an Arkansas city tax my income? No. Local revenue comes from sales and use taxes on top of the 6.5% state rate, and from property tax. The AR1000F carries no local line.
How does Arkansas compare with Tennessee or Texas? Both take nothing, so the difference is the full $2,799 at $85,000. Arkansas's lower housing costs are the counterweight, and for a border move they are usually the larger number.
What to do next
Arkansas's rate schedule is graduated and behaves like a flat tax above $30,000. The two things actually worth acting on are the small deduction — which makes itemising viable — and the 50% capital gains exclusion.
- Arkansas take-home pay calculator — your salary with every deduction shown separately.
- Your Paycheck in the USA in 2026 — all fifty states on one salary.
- Take-Home Pay in Tennessee — the no-income-tax neighbour across the Mississippi.
- Marginal vs Effective Tax Rate — why 3.9% is not what you pay.
- 50/30/20 budget calculator — built on take-home rather than salary.
Every figure on this site is sourced and dated. How we source every number.
Figures in this article are illustrations computed by this site's own tax engine for tax year 2026, on a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependents or pre-tax deferrals unless stated. Federal figures come from IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32 and the Social Security Administration; Arkansas's brackets, standard deduction, capital gains treatment and retirement rules from this site's sourced 50-state dataset, citing the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration and its AR1000F and AR1000D forms and instructions. Arkansas's low-income tax table and personal tax credits are not modelled and would reduce the figures shown for lower earners. Sales tax and property tax are discussed qualitatively rather than computed. This is general education and not tax advice; consult a licensed tax professional for your own situation.