Occupational Therapy Assistant Salary in Arkansas 2026,
$78,940 Median | BLS Data by City

The published Arkansas figure is $78,940 a year, or $37.95 an hour, per BLS OEWS May 2025, with a band from $50,710 at the 10th percentile to $98,960 at the 90th. That is 9.2% above the national median of $72,300. Arkansas employs 730 OTAs at a location quotient of 1.69, the most concentrated workforce of any role in this unit.

There is barely a difference. Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers publishes $80,910, Fort Smith $80,660, Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway $78,720 and Jonesboro $78,660 — a spread of about $2,250 across the whole state. An Arkansas OTA gains almost nothing by relocating within the state, which is unusual and which makes setting and employer the only levers that matter.

Yes. The Arkansas State Medical Board's Occupational Therapy Examining Committee licenses OTAs on the same statutory footing as occupational therapists — an ACOTE-accredited associate degree, the NBCOT examination and the COTA credential, with continuing education at renewal. Practice must be supervised by a licensed occupational therapist, which in rural Arkansas is a real constraint: an OTA post can only exist where a supervising OT is available.

Arkansas's top individual income tax rate came down to 3.9% in 2024, and a $78,940 median puts an OTA inside that bracket, so the reduction applies to the bulk of the salary. Housing costs across Arkansas are well below the national average, and because the state's four published metros are within about $2,250 of each other, that cost advantage is available everywhere rather than only in the cheaper corners.

It is one of the strongest two-year credentials in the state. The Arkansas OTA median of $78,940 is about 74% of the state's occupational therapist median, on an associate degree rather than a master's; the occupation is projected to grow 19.2% nationally; and Arkansas already employs OTAs at 1.69 times the national rate. The limit is the supervision requirement — the job exists only where an OT does, which shapes where in the state a post can be found.

Because the demand is structural and the supply is local. Skilled-nursing facilities, school districts and home-health agencies across rural Arkansas all use the assistant grade heavily — that is what a 1.69 location quotient records — and the state's OTA graduates are produced by a small number of programmes. When an employer in Jonesboro or Fort Smith needs an assistant to keep a therapy caseload moving, there is no deep local pool to draw on, and the wage settles 9.2% above the national figure.

The 730-job base is small, and the $50,710 tenth percentile reflects part-time and school-calendar work rather than a full-time entry rate. More importantly, the figure describes a role that cannot be practised independently: Arkansas requires supervision by a licensed occupational therapist, so the geography of OTA jobs is dictated by the geography of OT jobs. A rural county without an OT does not have an OTA post to offer at any wage.

Travel and coverage. Home-health work paid per visit across dispersed rural counties is the clearest route from the $78,940 median to the $85,020 seventy-fifth percentile, and contract-therapy companies covering several skilled-nursing facilities pay similarly for the mileage and the flexibility. Above that, the $98,960 top decile is generally a high-volume home-health caseload or a lead assistant role. Because the metro table is nearly flat, none of this lift comes from moving city — it all comes from changing setting.