Marketing Specialist salary in Fort Smith, AR-OK

Pay in Fort Smith against Arkansas and the US

Marketing specialists at the 90th percentile earn $123,380, 3.5 times the 10th percentile; the US ratio is 3.6. The middle half of marketing specialists in Fort Smith earns $41,990–$89,590. The mean ($68,700) is 16% over the median, so a group of high earners pulls the average up; price a typical hire from the median. From the 25th to the 75th percentile, the local range is only $47,600 wide, against $54,690 across Arkansas and $49,960 nationally: employers in Fort Smith pay within a narrower band.

What to budget for a marketing specialist here

Pay climbs faster above the median than below it here: the 75th percentile is $30,620 over the median, the 25th only $16,980 under it. An offer at the 75th percentile adds about $39,510 a year in employer cost. 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 $78,760 falls between the median and the 75th percentile in Fort Smith, and the Arkansas statewide median of $65,430 falls there too.

What a hire really costs in Fort Smith

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 $17,120 to the $58,970 median and brings it to $76,090 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 marketing specialists 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 Fort Smith

Of the 16 roles we track in Fort Smith, this one ranks #3 by median pay, between accountants ($62,990) and office managers ($57,130). Project Coordinator is the highest at $74,990.

Measured against the US median, marketing specialists rank #11 of the 16 roles we track in Fort Smith (-25.1%), between accountants (-24.7%) and paralegals (-25.9%). The typical role here is at -22.1%, so, measured against the US, marketing specialists cost less in Fort Smith than the area's general pay level would suggest. Marketing specialists hold 3.8% of the jobs in these 16 roles in Fort Smith, 5.9% across Arkansas and 5.7% nationally. The job is a smaller 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 $50,120 in the North Arkansas nonmetro area to $83,000 in Fayetteville-Springdale, a gap of $32,880 a year. All 2 areas in Arkansas with more marketing specialists than Fort Smith also pay more, among them Fayetteville-Springdale, AR ($83,000) and Little Rock-North Little Rock, AR ($62,790).

Fort Smith against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, Fort Smith is #288 of 514 US areas for this job. Both its size and its pay sit in the middle half of US areas. Outside Arkansas, Abilene and Killeen-Temple pay just above Fort Smith and Saginaw and Longview just below. All four are within $130 a year of the median in Fort Smith. Of the three markets with about as many marketing specialists, all three pay more.

Questions

Sources

How these pages are built: methodology and data sources. Last updated 2026-11-13.