Construction · Arkansas

Construction in Arkansas

NAICS 23 · Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023

Benchmarking Construction in Arkansas

Construction (NAICS 23) in Arkansas reports 58,830 workers across 6,366 establishments, with $3.6B of aggregate annual payroll flowing through Census CBP 2023 filings. That represents 0.8% of national employment for this industry — a concentration ratio that tells you whether Arkansas is a primary labor market for this NAICS code or a smaller satellite. A share above 5% signals a meaningful regional cluster; below 1% usually means the state is not a structural fit for this industry at scale.

Wage benchmarking is where state-level data earns its keep. The average annual compensation for Construction employees in Arkansas is $61,404/yr, versus a national average of $76,580/yr. Arkansas pays below the national average for this industry — common in lower cost-of-living states or where the industry has a smaller, less specialized local workforce.

Profitability data is only available at the national level because the IRS Statistics of Income program does not publish state-level margin breakdowns. The national net profit margin for Construction is 6.3%, and while margins do vary by state, the direction of variance usually follows labor cost and establishment size — both shown above. For a complete picture, pair this state-industry view with the Construction national page (entity structure, SBA lending, sub-industries) and the Arkansas overview (top employers, payroll dispersion across industries).

Employment

58,830

Establishments

6,366

Annual Payroll

$3.6B

Avg Payroll/Employee

$61,404/yr

Compare to National Average

Profit Margin (National)

6.3% National

National avg — IRS SOI (no state-level profit data)

Avg Payroll/Employee

$61,404/yr Arkansas
$76,580/yr National

Arkansas vs National avg

Employment

58,830 Arkansas
7,659,459 National

Arkansas share of national

Frequently Asked Questions

How many Construction businesses are in Arkansas?
There are 6,366 Construction (NAICS 23) establishments in Arkansas, according to Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023 data. These establishments employ 58,830 workers.
What is the average payroll for Construction in Arkansas?
The average annual payroll per employee for Construction in Arkansas is $61,404/yr. The national average for this industry is $76,580/yr. This data comes from the Census Bureau County Business Patterns 2023 survey.
How does Arkansas compare nationally for Construction?
Arkansas accounts for 0.8% of national employment in Construction, with 58,830 of 7,659,459 total US workers in this industry. The national profit margin for this industry is 6.3% (state-level profit data is not available from Census).
What is the profit margin for Construction?
The national net profit margin for Construction is 6.3%, based on IRS Statistics of Income data. Note that state-level profit margin data is not available from Census Bureau sources — this figure reflects the nationwide average across all business entities.
Disclaimer: PlainBizBench provides publicly available IRS and Census data for informational purposes only. This is not financial, tax, or business advice. Consult a qualified accountant or financial advisor for business-specific guidance.
Source: Census Bureau County Business Patterns (CBP) 2023 · NAICS 23 · AR

Related

Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBizBench Editorial

Source: U.S. Census Bureau — County Business Patterns / SUSB Industry employment scale, payroll, and firm-size benchmarks · 2025

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