Nurse Practitioner Salary in Arkansas (2026)

Worth knowing: AR Act 829 of 2023 is one of the country's most distinctive recent NP scope-of-practice expansion laws and a feature most national NP surveys understate for AR. AR Act 829 of 2023 (signed by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders April 2023, effective January 1, 2024) substantially expanded AR NP prescriptive authority by allowing NPs with 6,240 hours of supervised collaborative practice + DEA registration + AR-specific certification to prescribe Schedule II-V controlled substances + practice with reduced physician supervision requirements — a substantial expansion from prior AR collaborative practice requirements. AR retains a collaborative practice framework rather than granting full practice authority equivalent to neighboring full practice authority states (OK + IA + KS + others) but the Act 829 reform substantially reduced practice barriers + improved AR NP scope. The UAMS APP workforce (the only AR academic medical center + ~10K employees + substantial UAMS-employed NPs + the substantial UAMS College of Nursing as the only AR R1 NP-granting institution + UAMS FNP + AGACNP + PNP + WHNP + PMHNP programs) operates substantial in-house NP recruitment + APP credentialing across UAMS Medical Center + UAMS Cancer Institute + Arkansas Children + Baptist Health + CHI St Vincent + Mercy NW AR system partnerships. Senior UAMS CRNAs clear $195-265K+ TC = the highest AR APRN compensation tier. UAMS College of Nursing + UCA Conway + UA Fayetteville Eleanor Mann + Harding Carr + ASU produce AR NP graduates. The substantial AR Delta + Ozarks rural HPSA + FQHC + RHC + community health center NP demand supports substantial AR NHSC Scholarship + Loan Repayment Program eligible AR NP placements. AR progressive 2-4.4% top phasing 3.9% by 2026 + AR RTW since 1947 + AR property tax ~0.61% + no state estate tax.