How many people are employed in Arkansas?

According to Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023 data, Arkansas has 1,072,827 employees across 69,049 business establishments in 719 tracked industries.

What are the largest industries in Arkansas?

The largest industries in Arkansas by employment are General Medical and Surgical Hospitals (61,108), Limited-Service Restaurants (50,539), and Full-Service Restaurants (38,541).

What is the average payroll in Arkansas?

Average payroll per employee varies widely by industry in Arkansas. The highest-paying tracked industry is Electric Power Transmission, Control, and Distribution at $117,636/yr. All data is from Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023.

How many businesses operate in Arkansas?

Arkansas has 69,049 business establishments across 719 industries tracked by the Census Bureau County Business Patterns program. Each establishment represents a single physical location or operating unit.

State overview · AR · Census CBP 2023

Arkansas Industry Benchmarks

Name: Arkansas Industry Employment and Payroll Benchmarks
Creator: PlainBizBench
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Employment, establishments, and payroll for 719 industries in Arkansas. Drill into any industry for a Arkansas-specific view, then cross-reference the national page for margins.

Compiled by PlainBizBench

1.1M
Workers: 69K
Establishments: 719
Industries tracked

Data updated August 2026

The verdict · Arkansas

Arkansas employs 1,072,827 workers across 719 tracked industries, led by General Medical and Surgical Hospitals (61,108 workers).

Health Care and Social Assistance anchors Arkansas; top-three cumulative share is 47%. Margins stay on national industry pages.

Arkansas sector employment mix

Share of private-sector employment by NAICS-2 sector (Census CBP 2023). Tile area = workers.

Arkansas private employment by sector · Census CBP 2023

Health Care and Social Assistance is the clear anchor in Arkansas (18% of 1,072,827 private-sector workers (about the 33rd percentile of states by employment)), but sibling sectors still take meaningful shares. Read the treemap as an anchor-plus-breadth economy rather than a one-sector state.

#1 · NAICS 62

Health Care and Social Assistance

194,618 · 18%

#2 · NAICS 31

Manufacturing

164,240 · 15%

#3 · NAICS 44

Retail Trade

144,531 · 13%

Anchor economy · Herfindahl 0.106 (open) · top-three 47% of Arkansas private payroll.

Profit margins are national (IRS SOI); open any industry row below, then the matching national industry page for profitability.

Census CBP firm roll

County Business Patterns AR ANCHORED · CBP

#34/51 · 1,072,827 workers · 69,049 firms

EMP 1,072,827
EST 69,049
RANK #34/51
PCT 33rd pct
LEAD Health Care and Soci…
SHARE 18% lead
BAND anchored
DENS 15.5 /firm
BOOK 719 NAICS
PHOTO Mississippi

Nearest employment-scale peer: Mississippi (955,942 workers)

According to Census County Business Patterns 2023, Arkansas ranks #34 of 51 states and territories by total private-sector employment (level-2 sector totals, the same non-double-counted aggregate shown above). Margins stay on national industry pages (IRS SOI). Read with this state → · Lead 6-digit industry →

Census CBP level-2 private employment among this state and nearest nationwide peers

Top Industries by Employment

Industry	Employment	Establishments	Annual Payroll	Avg Payroll/Emp
General Medical and Surgical Hospitals NAICS 622110	61,108	85	$4.6B	$74,697/yr
Limited-Service Restaurants NAICS 722513	50,539	2,382	$914.1M	$18,087/yr
Full-Service Restaurants NAICS 722511	38,541	2,015	$876.1M	$22,731/yr
Temporary Help Services NAICS 561320	32,474	288	$1.2B	$38,065/yr
Offices of Physicians (except Mental Health Specialists) NAICS 621111	22,741	1,889	$2.3B	$102,118/yr
Supermarkets and Other Grocery (except Convenience) Stores NAICS 445110	19,383	459	$480.8M	$24,807/yr
Commercial Banking NAICS 522110	18,941	1,405	$1.5B	$77,912/yr
Nursing Care Facilities (Skilled Nursing Facilities) NAICS 623110	18,613	252	$696.9M	$37,439/yr
Religious Organizations NAICS 813110	18,334	2,635	$442.8M	$24,151/yr
Services for the Elderly and Persons with Disabilities NAICS 624120	15,700	382	$403.4M	$25,697/yr
Child Day Care Services NAICS 624410	11,708	728	$304.2M	$25,982/yr
Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors NAICS 238220	10,835	1,145	$655.1M	$60,463/yr
Hotels (except Casino Hotels) and Motels NAICS 721110	10,278	717	$250.6M	$24,381/yr
New Car Dealers NAICS 441110	9,852	252	$691.5M	$70,187/yr
Gasoline Stations with Convenience Stores NAICS 447110	9,457	1,262	$239.6M	$25,338/yr
Electrical Contractors and Other Wiring Installation Contractors NAICS 238210	8,832	757	$537.2M	$60,821/yr
Offices of Dentists NAICS 621210	7,690	917	$440.5M	$57,277/yr
Elementary and Secondary Schools NAICS 611110	6,952	161	$269.9M	$38,825/yr
Pharmacies and Drug Stores NAICS 446110	6,459	511	$280.3M	$43,402/yr
Other Grocery and Related Products Merchant Wholesalers NAICS 424490	6,432	141	$410.4M	$63,802/yr

Scale peers for Arkansas's anchor economy

Nearest other states by Census CBP level-2 private employment (1,072,827 in Arkansas), excluding AR.

Mississippi 955,942 Nebraska 897,981 Kansas 1,248,825 Nevada 1,298,196 Iowa 1,306,260 Oklahoma 1,358,788 Idaho 686,709 Utah 1,512,504

Disclaimer: Arkansas (AR) figures on this page are Census CBP employment and payroll counts for informational registry use only, not financial, tax, or business advice. Consult a qualified accountant for decisions about Arkansas businesses.

Source: Census Bureau County Business Patterns (CBP) 2023 · AR

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Data sourced from official public datasets for Arkansas (AR). See our methodology.

Verify with U.S. Census Bureau → · Verify with IRS SOI →