Workers in the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR Metropolitan Statistical Area had an average (mean) hourly wage of $27.88 in May 2025, compared to the nationwide average of $33.54, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Acting Regional Commissioner Jerome Watters noted that higher paying major occupational groups included management ($51.05), legal ($48.50), and healthcare practitioners and technical ($45.10). Lower paying occupations included food preparation and serving related ($14.72), personal care and service ($16.37), and building and grounds cleaning and maintenance ($16.41). (See table A.)

Occupational groups with the highest employment shares in the Little Rock area included office and administrative support (12.2 percent), transportation and material moving (9.8 percent), and sales and related (9.2 percent). Major occupational groups on the lower end of local employment included life, physical, and social science (0.7 percent); legal (0.9 percent); and arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (1.0 percent).

One occupational group—healthcare practitioners and technical—was chosen to illustrate the diversity of data available for any of the 22 major occupational categories. Little Rock had 32,180 jobs in healthcare practitioners and technical, accounting for 9.0 percent of local area employment, compared to the 6.3-percent share nationally. The average hourly wage for this occupational group locally was $45.10, compared to the national wage of $52.26.

Some of the larger detailed occupations within the healthcare practitioners and technical group included registered nurses (11,550), licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses (2,470), and pharmacy technicians (1,370). Among the higher paying jobs in this group were family medicine physicians ($115.39) and nurse anesthetists ($105.66). At the lower end of the wage scale were dietetic technicians ($16.17) and ophthalmic medical technicians ($18.41). (Detailed data for the healthcare practitioners and technical occupations are presented in table 1; for a complete listing of detailed occupations available go to data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/0030780/2025.)

Location quotients allow us to explore the occupational make-up of a metropolitan area by comparing the composition of jobs in an area relative to the national average. (See table 1.) For example, a location quotient of 2.00 indicates that an occupation accounts for twice the share of employment in the area than it does nationally. In the Little Rock area, above-average concentrations of employment were found in many of the occupations within the healthcare practitioners and technical group. For instance, surgical technologists were employed at 2.38 times the national rate in Little Rock, and speech-language pathologist, at 1.93 times the U.S. average. Paramedics had a location quotient of 1.08 in Little Rock, indicating that this particular occupation’s local and national employment shares were similar.

The statistics in this release are from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, a cooperative effort between BLS and the State Workforce Agencies (SWAs). BLS funds the survey and provides the procedures and technical support. State Workforce Agencies collect most of the data: in this case, the Arkansas Division of Workforce Services.

Technical Note

The Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey is a semiannual survey measuring occupational employment and wage rates for wage and salary workers in nonfarm establishments in the United States. The OEWS data available from BLS include cross-industry occupational employment and wage estimates for the nation; over 530 areas, including states and the District of Columbia, metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), nonmetropolitan areas, and territories; national industry-specific estimates at the NAICS sector, 3-digit, most 4-digit, and selected 5- and 6-digit industry levels; and national estimates by ownership across all industries and for schools and hospitals. Full OEWS data tables are available online.

Additional information about the OEWS estimates and methodology is available in the national Technical Notes. The overall national response rate for the six panels, based on the 50 states and the District of Columbia, is 66.2 percent based on establishments and 67.2 percent based on weighted sampled employment. Sample sizes and response rates by metropolitan and nonmetropolitan area are available on the Additional OEWS data sets page.

Metropolitan area definitions

The substate area data published in this release reflect the standards and definitions established by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.

The Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Faulkner County, Grant County, Lonoke County, Perry County, Pulaski County, and Saline County.

For more information

Answers to frequently asked questions about the OEWS data, as well as general program documentation, are available on the OEWS website.

If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability, please dial 7-1-1 to access telecommunications relay services.

Table 1. Employment and wage data for healthcare practitioners and technical occupations, Little Rock metropolitan area, May 2025

Occupation (1)	Employment		Mean wages ($)
	Level (2)	Location quotient (3)	Hourly	Annual (4)
Healthcare practitioners and technical occupations	32,180	1.42	45.10	93,800
Chiropractors	70	0.82	38.46	80,000
Dentists, general	240	0.85	85.15	177,120
Dietitians and nutritionists	260	1.44	31.38	65,280
Optometrists	70	0.71	56.38	117,270
Pharmacists	1,020	1.38	64.43	134,020
Physician assistants	340	0.92	52.13	108,440
Occupational therapists	760	2.04	49.69	103,360
Physical therapists	1,040	1.69	47.21	98,190
Radiation therapists	50	1.23	47.39	98,580
Respiratory therapists	530	1.66	35.93	74,740
Speech-language pathologists	810	1.93	44.84	93,260
Therapists, all other	140	2.78	33.00	68,640
Veterinarians	120	0.63	49.97	103,940
Registered nurses	11,550	1.48	41.30	85,890
Nurse anesthetists	(5)	(5)	105.66	219,780
Nurse practitioners	1,360	1.82	65.21	135,630
Audiologists	40	1.32	49.15	102,240
Family medicine physicians	(5)	(5)	115.39	240,000
Pediatricians, general	30	0.38	65.78	136,820
Psychiatrists	90	1.38	72.39	150,560
Radiologists	110	1.82	71.24	148,180
Physicians, all other	2,150	2.72	90.25	187,730
Dental hygienists	490	0.96	42.64	88,700
Healthcare diagnosing or treating practitioners, all other	120	1.74	45.80	95,250
Clinical laboratory technologists and technicians	1,110	1.44	26.96	56,070
Cardiovascular technologists and technicians	150	1.07	34.21	71,150
Diagnostic medical sonographers	190	0.93	39.52	82,200
Nuclear medicine technologists	50	1.36	43.15	89,750
Radiologic technologists and technicians	630	1.18	34.98	72,760
Magnetic resonance imaging technologists	150	1.54	38.47	80,030
Emergency medical technicians	240	0.58	18.44	38,360
Paramedics	250	1.08	27.11	56,390
Dietetic technicians	90	1.25	16.17	33,640
Pharmacy technicians	1,370	1.26	20.30	42,220
Psychiatric technicians	490	1.35	18.51	38,490
Surgical technologists	640	2.38	28.69	59,680
Veterinary technologists and technicians	70	0.25	18.98	39,490
Ophthalmic medical technicians	210	1.30	18.41	38,300
Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses	2,470	1.65	27.76	57,740
Medical records specialists	670	1.50	22.18	46,130
Opticians, dispensing	200	1.16	23.71	49,320
Health technologists and technicians, all other	360	0.86	26.06	54,210
Health information technologists and medical registrars	(5)	(5)	39.33	81,810
Athletic trainers	90	1.23	(6)	58,160
Healthcare practitioners and technical workers, all other	290	3.60	22.70	47,210
(1) For a complete listing of all detailed occupations in the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR Metropolitan Statistical Area, see https://data.bls.gov/oes/#/area/0030780/2025. (2) Estimates for detailed occupations may not sum to the totals due to rounding, and because the totals may include occupations that are not shown separately. Estimates do not include self-employed workers. (3) The location quotient is the ratio of the area concentration of occupational employment to the national average concentration. A location quotient greater than one indicates the occupation has a higher share of employment than average, and a location quotient less than one indicates the occupation is less prevalent in the area than average. (4) Annual wages have been calculated by multiplying the hourly mean wage by a 'year-round, full-time' hours figure of 2,080 hours; for those occupations where there is not an hourly mean wage published, the annual wage has been directly calculated from the reported survey data. (5) Estimate not released. (6) Wages for some occupations that do not generally work year-round, full time, are reported either as hourly wages or annual salaries depending on how they are typically paid.