TradeSalary

Plumber salary in Fort Smith, AR-OK

Updated September 27, 2026 with BLS data from May 2025

Plumbers in the Fort Smith, AR-OK area earn a median of $48,350 a year, or $23.24 an hour, according to May 2025 BLS data. The highest-paid 10% make over $62,520 a year. That's 1% less than the Arkansas median of $48,660.

Median yearly pay$48,350
Bottom 10% under$36,730Top 10% over$62,520
Apprentice starting pay (estimate)
$17.66/hr
Jobs in this area
250
After cost of living
$56,290
Median hourly pay
$23.24/hr
vs U.S. median
−24%
vs Arkansas median
−1%
Mean (average) pay
$49,590 a year · $23.84 an hour
Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (area 22900, Fort Smith, AR-OK). Excludes self-employed plumbers. Cost of living: BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024. *Starting pay is estimated from the 10th percentile; BLS does not report pay by license level.

Pay by percentile

What plumbers in Fort Smith, AR-OK earn at each point of the pay range, May 2025: 10% earn less than the 10th percentile, half earn less than the median, and 10% earn more than the 90th.

PercentileHourlyYearly
10th percentile$17.66$36,730
25th percentile$18.23$37,930
Median (50th)$23.24$48,350
75th percentile$28.84$59,990
90th percentile$30.06$62,520

BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. BLS yearly figures are the hourly wage times 2,080 hours.

How Fort Smith, AR-OK compares

  • Fort Smith ranks 5th of 7 Arkansas metro areas for plumber pay.
  • Plumbers are less concentrated in the Fort Smith area than nationally: 2.6 of every 1,000 jobs, 0.87 times the U.S. share.

Other Arkansas metro areas

Other trades in Fort Smith, AR-OK

Questions

Do plumbers make more in Fort Smith or Memphis?
Memphis pays more: the median is $48,350 in Fort Smith and $58,690 in Memphis, a 18% difference.

About this data

Wages are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for May 2025, occupation 47-2152 (Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters), area code 22900 (Fort Smith, AR-OK). BLS counts wage and salary workers only, so self-employed plumbers and business owners aren't included. The cost-of-living figure divides the median by the Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Price Parity for 2024 (85.9, where the U.S. average is 100). Page updated September 27, 2026. How we calculate these figures