Fort Smith, AR-OK

Across all occupations in the Fort Smith, AR-OK metropolitan area, the median wage is $39,560 a year ($19.02 an hour) and the mean $50,300, May 2025. That median is −22% against the US median of $50,980 and −9% against Arkansas's $43,630. BLS counts 95,560 jobs in the area, which spans Arkansas and Oklahoma. The highest-paying occupation is physicians, all other; the largest is retail salespersons.

All occupations: Fort Smith, AR-OK vs Arkansas and Oklahoma and the United States

All occupations: wage percentiles, mean and employment in the Fort Smith, AR-OK area, Arkansas and Oklahoma and nationally, May 2025
Area	Basis	Percentile wage					Mean	Employment
Area	Basis	10th	25th	Median	75th	90th	Mean	Employment
Fort Smith, AR-OK	Hourly	$12.65	$14.82	$19.02	$27.92	$39.05	$24.18	95,560
Fort Smith, AR-OK	Annual	$26,310	$30,820	$39,560	$58,080	$81,220	$50,300	95,560
Arkansas	Hourly	$12.99	$15.33	$20.98	$29.74	$45.55	$26.39	1,303,630
Arkansas	Annual	$27,020	$31,880	$43,630	$61,850	$94,740	$54,890	1,303,630
Oklahoma	Hourly	$12.43	$15.74	$21.92	$31.73	$48.41	$27.38	1,707,680
Oklahoma	Annual	$25,850	$32,740	$45,600	$66,000	$100,690	$56,950	1,707,680
United States	Hourly	$15.00	$18.07	$24.51	$38.71	$61.81	$33.54	155,495,730
United States	Annual	$31,200	$37,590	$50,980	$80,520	$128,560	$69,770	155,495,730

Annual wage at the 10th, 25th, 50th (median), 75th and 90th percentiles across all occupations in the metro; the line marks the US median. The same numbers are in the table above.

302 detailed occupations publish a median in this area. State profiles: Arkansas, Oklahoma. Compare any occupation across every area in the wage explorer.

20 highest-paying occupations in Fort Smith, AR-OK

Rank	Occupation	Median annual	Median hourly	Employment
1	Physicians, All Other	$258,130	$124.10	170
2	Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers	$170,960	*	40
3	Dentists, General	$165,060	$79.36	100
4	Pharmacists	$133,520	$64.19	160
5	Architectural and Engineering Managers	$131,100	$63.03	100
6	Nurse Practitioners	$129,270	$62.15	270
7	Purchasing Managers	$125,330	$60.26	60
8	Physician Assistants	$119,840	$57.61	70
9	Computer and Information Systems Managers in Arkansas	$114,760	$55.17	190
10	Chief Executives	$114,550	$55.07	210
11	Computer Network Architects	$114,270	$54.94	50
12	Software Developers in Arkansas	$114,140	$54.87	200
13	Optometrists	$109,200	$52.50	40
14	Industrial Production Managers	$106,520	$51.21	220
15	Financial Managers in Arkansas	$104,990	$50.48	460
16	Veterinarians	$104,110	$50.06	40
17	Human Resources Managers	$103,580	$49.80	100
18	Facilities Managers	$103,300	$49.66	60
19	Civil Engineers	$100,330	$48.24	110
20	Diagnostic Medical Sonographers	$100,140	$48.14	80

Ranked by median; an occupation whose median BLS withholds or top-codes in this area cannot appear here, however well it pays.

20 largest occupations in Fort Smith, AR-OK

Rank	Occupation	Employment	Jobs per 1,000	Location quotient	Median annual
1	Retail Salespersons in Arkansas	2,880	30.13	1.20	$28,350
2	Fast Food and Counter Workers in Arkansas	2,760	28.87	1.16	$23,760
3	General and Operations Managers in Arkansas	2,320	24.24	1.08	$70,330
4	Home Health and Personal Care Aides in Arkansas	2,240	23.47	0.85	$28,410
4	Stockers and Order Fillers in Arkansas	2,240	23.43	1.29	$32,050
6	Registered Nurses in Arkansas	2,180	22.77	1.05	$79,870
6	Cashiers in Arkansas	2,180	22.80	1.15	$27,480
8	Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers	2,080	21.76	23.22	$37,460
9	Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers in Arkansas	2,030	21.24	1.60	$47,580
10	Office Clerks, General in Arkansas	1,900	19.91	1.26	$37,100
11	Customer Service Representatives in Arkansas	1,860	19.44	1.16	$37,500
12	Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand in Arkansas	1,760	18.42	0.97	$34,810
13	Nursing Assistants in Arkansas	1,580	16.52	1.77	$32,020
14	Waiters and Waitresses in Arkansas	1,410	14.80	1.01	$23,680
15	Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators in Arkansas	1,220	12.75	1.41	$36,930
16	Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners in Arkansas	1,150	12.00	0.84	$31,200
17	First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers in Arkansas	1,100	11.49	2.65	$62,260
18	Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses in Arkansas	960	10.06	2.41	$55,880
18	First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers in Arkansas	960	10.03	1.09	$57,130
18	Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks in Arkansas	960	10.00	1.13	$45,010

Most concentrated occupations in Fort Smith, AR-OK

The 10 occupations with the highest location quotient among those employing at least 100 people in the area. A quotient of 2.00 means the occupation's share of local jobs is twice its national share.

Rank	Occupation	Location quotient	Employment	Jobs per 1,000	Median annual
1	Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers	23.22	2,080	21.76	$37,460
2	Cutting and Slicing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders	8.83	240	2.56	$44,960
3	Machine Feeders and Offbearers	8.81	230	2.40	$37,710
4	Slaughterers and Meat Packers	7.09	300	3.19	$38,800
5	Food Processing Workers, All Other	5.67	230	2.37	$43,160
6	Helpers--Production Workers	5.42	550	5.78	$34,860
7	Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic	4.10	150	1.61	$55,380
8	Computer Numerically Controlled Tool Operators	3.65	380	3.98	$56,520
9	Industrial Machinery Mechanics	2.78	750	7.87	$57,960
10	First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers in Arkansas	2.65	1,100	11.49	$62,260

Occupation groups in Fort Smith, AR-OK

Group	Median annual	Mean annual	Employment	Jobs per 1,000	Location quotient
Management	$83,320	$97,650	6,070	63.49	0.89
Architecture and Engineering	$78,910	$85,730	820	8.54	0.51
Computer and Mathematical	$75,380	$79,320	1,180	12.34	0.36
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical	$70,360	$82,090	6,850	71.64	1.13
Life, Physical, and Social Science	$62,620	$68,160	380	4.01	0.42
Business and Financial Operations	$61,050	$69,220	3,710	38.84	0.57
Legal	$59,950	$87,710	400	4.14	0.49
Educational Instruction and Library	$52,240	$52,610	5,080	53.12	0.91
Installation, Maintenance, and Repair	$49,170	$53,030	4,690	49.04	1.25
Community and Social Service	$45,540	$50,580	1,180	12.30	0.72
Construction and Extraction	$43,800	$46,400	3,380	35.40	0.86
Protective Service	$42,370	$46,540	1,730	18.09	0.74
Production	$40,880	$44,880	12,400	129.74	2.36
Office and Administrative Support	$38,750	$42,800	10,980	114.91	1.01
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media	$38,470	$44,870	600	6.30	0.48
Transportation and Material Moving	$37,270	$41,910	10,020	104.85	1.19
Farming, Fishing, and Forestry	$36,560	$39,520	310	3.22	1.15
Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance	$31,560	$32,940	2,450	25.64	0.88
Healthcare Support	$30,510	$32,710	4,980	52.14	1.03
Sales and Related	$30,460	$40,360	8,630	90.31	1.05
Personal Care and Service	$28,600	$32,140	1,260	13.15	0.63
Food Preparation and Serving Related	$26,770	$28,320	8,490	88.80	1.01

Every occupation in Arkansas and Oklahoma, and the area's place among the state's metros, is on the state profiles. All 302 published occupations for this area are in the wage explorer; other metros are on the metros hub.

Source and notes

Data: BLS OEWS May 2025, released 2026-05-15. Cross-industry estimates, all ownerships. BLS page: OEWS Fort Smith, AR-OK estimates (area 22900).

*: Wage estimate not available.

Annual wages assume 2,080 hours a year at the hourly rate; occupations BLS publishes on one basis only show an en dash (–) on the other.
Employment is rounded to the nearest 10 by BLS. Where BLS withholds a cell, nothing is estimated in its place.
Jobs per 1,000 is the occupation's employment per 1,000 jobs in the Fort Smith, AR-OK area; the location quotient is that share divided by the national share.
The concentration table keeps only occupations with employment of 100 or more in the area, so a quotient built on a handful of rounded jobs cannot top it.
The area spans Arkansas and Oklahoma; its figures are the whole MSA, as BLS publishes them, under the primary state Arkansas.