Virtual receptionist in the South Arkansas nonmetro area: cost vs in-house

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

The middle half of virtual receptionists in the South Arkansas nonmetro area earns $30,090–$35,790. Pay is tightly grouped: the top tenth starts at $41,300, only 1.5 times the bottom tenth, against 1.7 times across the US, so the going rate is easier to read. From the 25th to the 75th percentile, the local range is only $5,700 wide, against $7,030 across Arkansas and $11,170 nationally: employers in the South Arkansas nonmetro area pay within a narrower band.

What to budget for a virtual receptionist here

Pay climbs faster above the median than below it here: the 75th percentile is $3,660 over the median, the 25th only $2,040 under it. An offer at the 75th percentile adds about $4,723 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 $38,010 falls between the 75th and 90th percentiles in the South Arkansas nonmetro area, and the Arkansas statewide median of $34,840 falls between the median and the 75th percentile. An offer at the national rate would beat what three quarters of local virtual receptionists 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 $9,328 to the $32,130 median and brings it to $41,458 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 virtual receptionists 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

Virtual receptionists have the lowest median of the 14 roles we track in the South Arkansas nonmetro area; project coordinators have the highest, at $72,030.

Measured against the US median, virtual receptionists rank #2 of the 14 roles we track in the South Arkansas nonmetro area (-15.5%), between data entry specialists (-10.0%) and customer support specialists (-17.7%). The typical role here is at -25.9%, so, measured against the US, virtual receptionists cost more in the South Arkansas nonmetro area than the area's general pay level would suggest. Virtual receptionists hold 12.2% of the jobs in these 14 roles in the South Arkansas nonmetro area, 10.4% across Arkansas and 5.9% 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 $31,210 in the East Arkansas nonmetro area to $36,080 in Fayetteville-Springdale, a gap of $4,870 a year. All 3 areas in Arkansas with more virtual receptionists than the South Arkansas nonmetro area also pay more, among them Little Rock-North Little Rock, AR ($35,790) and Fayetteville-Springdale, AR ($36,080).

the South Arkansas nonmetro area against other US metro areas

By number of jobs, the South Arkansas nonmetro area is #207 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, Victoria and Paducah pay just above the South Arkansas nonmetro area and Lawton and Tyler just below. All four are within $30 a year of the median in the South Arkansas nonmetro area. Of the three markets with about as many virtual receptionists, all three pay more.

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Sources

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