Physical Therapist Salary in Arkansas 2026,
$99,010 Median | BLS Data by City

A median $99,010 a year, or $47.60 an hour, per BLS OEWS May 2025, with the middle half between $81,260 and $111,470 and a full range of $73,050 to $127,210. That is 3.6% below the $102,760 national median, and the state's 75th percentile clears the national median by more than eight thousand dollars.

Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers at $104,500, the only Arkansas metro above the national median, followed by Jonesboro at $100,010, Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway at $99,940, Fort Smith at $98,730 and Hot Springs at $97,260. The seven-thousand-dollar spread is narrow for this occupation, so setting will move your pay more than the city does.

Yes. Arkansas participates in the Physical Therapy Licensure Compact, so a therapist holding a compact-eligible licence in another member state can obtain a compact privilege to practise here without applying for a full second Arkansas licence. That route covers a meaningful share of the contract and travel staffing in the rural counties. If Arkansas is your home state, your primary licence still comes from the State Board of Physical Therapy.

In real terms, one of the stronger markets in this batch. The median is within four per cent of the national figure, the top income tax rate is 3.9% with no local layer, and housing costs are among the lowest in the country — a therapist here keeps and retains more than one earning the same salary almost anywhere. A location quotient of 1.2 means posts are plentiful. The caveats are a high combined sales tax and, outside the metros, professional isolation in small rural practices.

More than in most states. Arkansas employs physical therapist assistants at 1.72 times the national rate, and the State Board of Physical Therapy licenses both professions and sets the supervision rules between them. In practice an Arkansas therapist spends proportionally more time on evaluation, plan-of-care development and supervision, and less on direct hands-on treatment, than a therapist in a state with a lower assistant ratio. Whether that suits you is worth thinking about before accepting a post.

The combination of a near-national wage and a very low cost base. The median is only 3.6% below the national figure, the 75th percentile clears it by more than eight thousand dollars, and Arkansas's 3.9% top income tax rate with no local layer plus housing costs among the lowest in the United States mean a therapist retains far more of it. Run the same salary through a state charging nine per cent income tax with metropolitan housing costs and the Arkansas position is clearly ahead. Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers at $104,500 is above the national median outright, which makes north-west Arkansas one of the better-value physical therapy markets in the country.

Setting, invisible in the median. Outpatient orthopaedic, inpatient rehabilitation, skilled nursing, home health and school-based practice all sit inside this one number and differ by more than the state differs from the national median — home health and contract post-acute work paid on productivity account for much of the distance to the $127,210 ninetieth percentile. The figure also excludes productivity bonuses and rural sign-on incentives, and it does not reflect the professional isolation that a small rural practice can involve.

Setting first: home health and contract post-acute work pay on productivity and occupy the upper quartile. Geography second and modestly — Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers at $104,500 against Hot Springs at $97,260 is about seven thousand dollars, less than the metro spread in several other occupations in this unit. Then ABPTS specialty certification in orthopaedics, neurology or geriatrics, and clinic or regional management toward the $111,470 seventy-fifth percentile. The compact privilege is worth understanding for anyone wanting to take assignments across state lines.