Arkansas prevailing wage
State law, federal determinations, and how to find the rate that applies
- Arkansas has no state prevailing-wage law - only the federal Davis-Bacon Act applies, on federally funded construction over $2,000. (2017 — Act 1068 repealed Ark. Code §§22-9-301 to 22-9-315.)
- The U.S. Department of Labor has 172 active federal Davis-Bacon wage determinations covering 75 Arkansas counties as of (latest revision date), each setting county rates by trade for federally funded construction.
- Market context: the average private construction worker in Arkansas earned $1,275/week (≈ $31.88/hour) in Q1 2026, rank #50 of 51 states, per the BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages - an industry average, not a prevailing-wage rate.
Recent change: 2017 — Act 1068 repealed Ark. Code §§22-9-301 to 22-9-315.
No state prevailing-wage law since the 2017 repeal; federal Davis-Bacon applies to federally funded work.
How to find the required rate
- State or locally funded project: no state prevailing-wage requirement - check any local ordinances and the funding source.
- Federally funded project: find the county in the Arkansas determination index and open the official SAM.gov document for your construction type.
- Read the classification line - base rate plus fringe (how to read a determination); compute totals and overtime with the calculator.
Federal determinations at a glance
Building: 35 · Heavy: 24 · Highway: 47 · Residential: 66 - every determination and the counties it covers are listed in the Arkansas wage-determination index, each with its full rate schedule mirrored. Service contracts: 28 active SCA determinations for Arkansas.
What construction actually pays here
Separate from any required rate: BLS data puts the average private construction wage in Arkansas at $1,275/week (0.0% YoY) in Q1 2026 - details and history on Arkansas construction wages.
Learn the system
What a prevailing wage is · The Davis-Bacon Act · Certified payroll · Fringe calculator
Data on this page is from U.S. government public-domain sources - free to reuse with credit and a link to prevailingwageindex.com.