Physician assistant salary in Arkansas

Physician assistant pay by percentile

Ten percent of Arkansas physician assistants earned less than $88,160 and ten percent earned more than $159,080, a spread of $70,920. Where you land depends mostly on specialty, setting, experience and how the productivity pay is built, which is why two offers in the same city can be far apart.

Physician assistant pay by metro area

BLS published PA pay for 7 metro areas that include part of Arkansas. Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR has the highest median at $130,810. Metro estimates rest on smaller samples than the statewide figure, so treat a low-precision row as a direction, not a number.

How PA pay compares with other clinicians in Arkansas

The Arkansas PA workforce

BLS counts 850 physician assistants on Arkansas payrolls, or 0.65 for every 1,000 jobs in the state, less concentrated than in the country as a whole. The federal NPI registry, which also counts self-employed and part-time clinicians, lists 777 physician assistants with a Arkansas practice address, and 66 new PA NPIs there in the past twelve months.

Using these numbers when you negotiate

A state median is a reference point, not a target. If an offer comes in under $103,810, it sits in the bottom quarter of what Arkansas physician assistants earn, and you should know why before you sign: a new-grad rate, a light schedule, or a base kept low because a productivity bonus is supposed to make up the difference. If it is above $133,270, ask what is expected in return, such as call, volume targets or a longer non-compete.

Compare the whole package, not the base: how the bonus is calculated, call pay, CME, PTO and who pays malpractice tail coverage. The negotiation guide and the contract checklist walk through each term.