Bookkeeper salary in the South Arkansas nonmetro area

Pay in the South Arkansas nonmetro area against Arkansas and the US

Pay is more spread out here than nationally: the top tenth earns $58,880 or more, 2.4 times the bottom tenth, against 2.1 times across the US. Two offers for the same title can sit far apart. The middle half of bookkeepers in the South Arkansas nonmetro area earns $32,390–$48,290. From the 25th to the 75th percentile, the local range is $15,900 wide, between the figure for Arkansas ($15,080) and the US figure ($17,950).

What to budget for a bookkeeper here

An offer at the 75th percentile instead of the median adds $7,730 a year in pay and about $9,974 in employer cost. Going down to the 25th percentile saves $8,170 in pay. These percentiles describe what people in the job earn locally, not experience levels, so place your offer by the tasks and seniority you need.

For scale, the US median of $50,670 falls between the 75th and 90th percentiles in the South Arkansas nonmetro area, and the Arkansas statewide median of $42,840 falls between the median and the 75th percentile. An offer at the national rate would beat what three quarters of local bookkeepers earn.

What a hire really costs in the South Arkansas nonmetro area

Pay is only part of it. Benefits and payroll taxes other than paid leave are 22.5% of total compensation in US private industry², which adds about $11,775 to the $40,560 median and brings it to $52,335 a year. Recruiting, equipment and office space come on top. Benefit levels vary by employer, so treat this as an estimate.

We place executive assistants, customer support and e-commerce staff today; for bookkeepers we answer within one business day whether we can help. Enter the monthly pay you have in mind to compare it with a local hire. The fee field shows our standard fee³; Deel's contractor plan is the default payroll tool⁴.

Other roles in the South Arkansas nonmetro area

Of the 14 roles we track in the South Arkansas nonmetro area, this one ranks #9 by median pay, between payroll specialists ($43,680) and data entry specialists ($37,210). Project Coordinator is the highest at $72,030.

Measured against the US median, bookkeepers rank #4 of the 14 roles we track in the South Arkansas nonmetro area (-20.0%), between customer support specialists (-17.7%) and medical administrative assistants (-21.1%). The typical role here is at -25.9%, so, measured against the US, bookkeepers cost more in the South Arkansas nonmetro area than the area's general pay level would suggest. Bookkeepers hold 14.7% of the jobs in these 14 roles in the South Arkansas nonmetro area, 12.0% across Arkansas and 9.0% nationally. The job is a bigger part of the local workforce in these roles than it is nationally.

Other areas in Arkansas

Across the 9 areas of Arkansas with data for this job, the median runs from $38,450 in Hot Springs to $45,830 in Fayetteville-Springdale, a gap of $7,380 a year. Of the 3 areas in Arkansas with more bookkeepers than the South Arkansas nonmetro area, 1 pays less: the North Arkansas nonmetro area ($39,160).

the South Arkansas nonmetro area against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, the South Arkansas nonmetro area is #280 of 521 US areas for this job. It is a mid-sized market, and its pay is in the bottom quarter of US areas. Outside Arkansas, Johnson City and Gadsden pay just above the South Arkansas nonmetro area and Gulfport-Biloxi and Hattiesburg just below. All four are within $330 a year of the median in the South Arkansas nonmetro area. Of the three markets with about as many bookkeepers, all three pay more.

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Sources

How these pages are built: methodology and data sources. Last updated 2026-11-12.