Operations research analysts job market in Arkansas
Industry trends, wages and hiring signals.
The headline
Arkansas industry employment tracked close to the U.S. benchmark
A data-driven view of the industries that employ Operations research analysts in Arkansas.
Occupation pay
What Operations research analysts earn in Arkansas
BLS OEWS occupation-level pay estimates for this role — separate from the industry wage trends used elsewhere in this report.
Median annual wage
$59,030Arkansas- Middle 50% of published wages
- $48,520 – $80,510
- U.S. median annual wage
- $88,940
- Reference period
- May 2025
The middle 50% is the 25th-to-75th percentile wage range, not an experience-level band. Suppressed or unavailable BLS values remain unpublished rather than being estimated.
Pay around Arkansas
How median pay varies by metro area
Published BLS OEWS metro estimates for Operations research analysts, compared with the Arkansas median of $59,030.
Memphis, TN-MS-AR$83,120+40.8% vs. state
Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR$64,610+9.5% vs. state
Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR$60,160+1.9% vs. state
Areas are ordered by published median wage for readability, not as an overall job-market ranking. The vertical marker is the Arkansas median. Some BLS metropolitan areas cross state lines, so a metro estimate can cover workers in more than one state.
Verified snapshot
Market at a Glance
Key changes in Arkansas’s weighted industry mix.
Percentage-point gaps use the original published values and are rounded once; subtracting the rounded percentages can give a slightly different result.
Published coverage: 55,502 represented establishments, 84.64% of the published industry mix.
Local research
What the data shows for operations research analysts in Arkansas
Findings describe the published observation periods shown below. Research published Oct 11, 2026.
This occupation is less concentrated in the state
The published location quotient for operations research analysts in Arkansas is 0.24 in OEWS May 2025: their share of employment is 0.24 times the national share. The state estimate is 210 jobs, 0.2% of the national employment estimate for this occupation. It represents 0.16 jobs per thousand jobs in the state's OEWS employment universe. The measure describes the distribution of existing employment, not current hiring or future growth.
OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWSOEWS employment estimates describe covered wage-and-salary jobs and exclude self-employed workers; location quotients do not measure vacancies or worker demand.
The highest-paying metro has a smaller employment market
The OEWS May 2025 comparison for Arkansas shows a pay premium alongside a smaller employment estimate. Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR's median annual pay of $64,610 is 7.4% higher than Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR's $60,160, while their employment estimates are 50 and 100, respectively. Among 2 metros with both usable measures, the former has the highest median pay and the latter the largest employment estimate. These counts describe existing jobs, not available vacancies.
OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWSSome metro estimates cross state lines. Higher nominal pay does not establish better living standards or better chances of finding a job.
Published median pay is below the U.S. median
The national median annual wage for operations research analysts is $88,940 in OEWS May 2025. Arkansas's corresponding estimate is $59,030, or 33.6% below that benchmark. The comparison uses published medians without adjusting for living costs or individual workers' circumstances.
OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWSIndustry groups are pulling in opposite directions
In January to March 2026, Financial activities recorded a +0.8% year-over-year employment change in Arkansas; Federal recorded -6.7%. The contrast matters when reading the combined industry measure for this occupation. The leading industry groups examined account for 84.1% of its national industry mix, and their employment movements point in opposite directions.
January to March 2026 · BLS QCEWIndustry measures describe the industries associated with this occupation. They are not direct occupation employment, current openings or a state-level Job Market Health score. Findings describe published data and do not establish causes. Methodology
Employment trends
Arkansas industry employment over time
Year-over-year change in the weighted industries. The U.S. line is the latest-quarter benchmark because a comparable national quarterly history is not published here.
- Arkansas · 2026 Q10.0%
- U.S. · latest-quarter benchmark-0.4%
The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.
View every published value
| Quarter | Arkansas | Coverage |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 Q2 | +0.8% | 100% |
| 2024 Q3 | +1.3% | 100% |
| 2024 Q4 | +1.2% | 100% |
| 2025 Q1 | +1.6% | 93.52% |
| 2025 Q2 | +1.5% | 100% |
| 2025 Q3 | +1.1% | 100% |
| 2025 Q4 | +0.6% | 100% |
| 2026 Q1 | 0.0% | 88.28% |
How to read this chart
State trend and national reference
The solid line follows Arkansas’s published year-over-year industry employment changes by quarter. The dashed U.S. line is a latest-quarter reference, not a second time series.
- Published quarters
- 8
- Earliest quarter
- 2024 Q2
- Latest quarter
- 2026 Q1
- U.S. benchmark
- -0.4%
Quarters with no published value are omitted rather than interpolated.
Industry context
Where Operations research analysts Work
The occupation mix determines which Arkansas industries are weighted into this view.
| Industry group | Occupation mix | Employment change | Establishments | Avg. weekly industry wage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Professional and business services | 34.8% | +0.3% | 24,615 | $2,553 |
| Financial activities | 26.0% | +0.8% | 10,756 | $1,882 |
| Private education and health services | 11.4% | +1.3% | 14,805 | $1,064 |
| State and local | 6.5% | -0.4% | 3,129 | $1,032 |
| Information | 5.5% | Not published | 2,197 | $1,766 |
| Federal | 5.3% | -6.7% | 1,186 | $1,945 |
Which industries are growing?
3 weighted industries are growing
Only weighted industries with a published positive Arkansas employment change are listed.
- Private education and health services+1.3%
- Financial activities+0.8%
- Professional and business services+0.3%
The remaining weighted industries published a flat or negative change in January to March 2026.
Selected state comparison
Arkansas vs. other states
A selected set of other states with valid reports for this occupation, not every available state. Each state’s own published industry employment change for QCEW 2026 Q1, ordered with this report first and then alphabetically. This is not a ranking and there is no state-level score.
How to read this
Same occupation, same release
Every state shown published its own verified QCEW 2026 Q1 figure for the industries weighted to Operations research analysts. Bars are proportional to each published change; left of centre is a decline.
Current Arkansas context
Current Arkansas Market Signals
Statewide indicators for all occupations in Arkansas. They are not Operations research analysts demand and are not part of the Job Market Health score.
Statewide job postings
Indeed job postings · Arkansas
Recent hiring-demand context · separate from the health score
Total postings index (seasonally adjusted) by observation date · baseline 100
The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.
View values: Indeed postings index
| Observation date | Index (Feb 2020 = 100) |
|---|---|
| Jul 24, 2026 | 112.03 |
| Jul 31, 2026 | 112.24 |
| Aug 7, 2026 | 112.17 |
| Aug 14, 2026 | 111.85 |
| Aug 21, 2026 | 111.51 |
| Aug 28, 2026 | 111.47 |
| Sep 4, 2026 | 112.75 |
| Sep 11, 2026 | 114.12 |
| Sep 18, 2026 | 114.51 |
| Sep 25, 2026 | 114.35 |
| Oct 2, 2026 | 115.49 |
| Oct 9, 2026 | 116.55 |
| Oct 16, 2026 | 116.68 |
| Oct 23, 2026 | 116.43 |
This is statewide demand across all occupations, not demand for this specific job. Postings are not a count of vacancies or hires, and Indeed does not cover the entire labor market.
Source: Indeed Hiring Lab · CC BY 4.0. Seven-day average, seasonally adjusted; publisher refreshes weekly and may revise history. Retrieved Oct 30, 2026 · saved source copy. JobMarketHealth calculates the displayed changes and samples weekly observations for the chart.
Career context
Related occupations
Related roles from the occupation’s published O*NET profile.
Questions answered by this release
Operations research analysts in Arkansas FAQs
Each answer is limited to what QCEW 2026 Q1 actually publishes for this state.
Is employment growing for Operations research analysts in Arkansas?
The available QCEW measure is not direct occupation employment. Employment across the Arkansas industries weighted to Operations research analysts changed 0.0% year over year in January to March 2026, compared with -0.4% nationwide.
Are wages for Operations research analysts rising in Arkansas?
QCEW does not publish pay for Operations research analysts in this view. Average weekly wages across the weighted industries changed +9.2% year over year; that must not be read as an occupation salary change.
How complete is this Arkansas industry view?
The three core state trends each meet the site’s coverage floor; the minimum published coverage is 88.28% of the occupation’s industry mix.
Does this page show current Operations research analysts openings?
No. QCEW measures industry employment, establishments and wages. Any postings, news or WARN figures shown here are statewide context and are not occupation-specific openings.
Methodology & sourcesQCEW 2026 Q1 · coverage 88.28% · full evidence record
Methodology & Sources
Derived by JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix. This is occupation-weighted industry context, not direct occupation employment and not a count of current job openings.
- Occupation
- Operations research analysts
- SOC code
- 15-2031
- State
- Arkansas
- QCEW release label
- QCEW 2026 Q1
- Data period
- 2026 Q1
- State industry employment, year over year
- 0.0%State data coverage 88.28%
- U.S. benchmark, year over year
- -0.4%
- Difference from U.S. benchmark
- +0.3 percentage pointsPercentage-point gaps use the original published values and are rounded once; subtracting the rounded percentages can give a slightly different result.
- Establishments, year over year
- +2.5%State data coverage 88.28%
- Average weekly industry wage, year over year
- +9.2%State data coverage 93.52%
- Industry mix vintage
- EP-2025-2035
- BLS publication date
- Aug 28, 2026
- Source verification
- Verified against the committed source snapshotVerified Sep 17, 2026
- Canonical record URL
- https://jobmarkethealth.com/occupations/operations-research-analysts/arkansas#evidence-record
- Derived by
- JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix
MethodologyBLS QCEWHow to citeQCEW state context release, 2026 Q1
Weighted industry conditions are not direct occupation employment, occupation wages, current openings or a state-level Job Market Health score. No causal explanation is inferred.