Arkansas has about 3.1 million residents. Registered nurses in the state average $81,520 a year, 47th among the fifty states and the District of Columbia.
Licensure
The Arkansas State Board of Nursing licenses registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and advanced practice registered nurses. Its office is on South University Avenue in Little Rock, telephone (501) 686-2700. Rules and renewal information sit on the board's page at the Arkansas Department of Health.
Arkansas has been in the Nurse Licensure Compact since its early years. A nurse living in Arkansas holds one multistate license good in every other compact state.
Nurse practitioner practice
Arkansas is in the reduced practice group. A nurse practitioner has to keep a standing collaborative agreement with a physician to carry out at least one part of the job. The physician need not be present, but the agreement has to be current. See nurse practitioner practice authority.
Nursing education
The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Nursing in Little Rock is the state's academic nursing school and its main source of graduate prepared nurses. The Eleanor Mann School of Nursing at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville serves the growing northwest, and Arkansas State University in Jonesboro and the University of Central Arkansas in Conway carry substantial programs, with associate degree capacity spread across the two year colleges.
Pay and workforce
Little Rock is the largest medical center in the state and holds both the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and Arkansas Children's Hospital. Northwest Arkansas, around Fayetteville, Springdale and Rogers, has grown quickly enough to support a second concentration of hospital work.
Most of what lies between is rural, served by critical access hospitals competing for staff against better paying markets in Tennessee and Texas. Both of those are compact states, so crossing the line takes no new license. See rural and frontier nursing.
Related
- Nurse Licensure Compact
- Collaborative practice agreements
- Critical access hospitals
- Rural and frontier nursing
- Nursing by state
Sources
- U.S. Census Bureau, state population estimates for July 1, 2025. Accessed September 8, 2026.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, registered nurses (29-1141), May 2025. Accessed September 8, 2026.
- Arkansas State Board of Nursing, contact details and licensing information. Accessed September 8, 2026.
- Nurse Licensure Compact, member states. Accessed September 8, 2026.
- American Association of Nurse Practitioners, State Practice Environment. Accessed September 8, 2026.