Medical assistant jobs in Arkansas

Roughly 5,150 workers in Arkansas hold medical assistant jobs. That comes to 4.0 out of every 1,000 jobs across the state. When you count the 50 states plus Washington, DC, Arkansas places 36 of 51 for how many of these jobs it has.

The state's labor agency predicts around 760 medical assistant openings each year. New positions count toward that number, along with roles that open up as workers move on to other things. Arkansas places 35 of 51 in terms of yearly openings.

Growth is the one place where Arkansas really stands apart. According to the agency, the number of jobs should grow from a starting point of 5,030 in 2024 to about 6,080 in 2034. That works out to 20.9% growth, while the US overall is projected at 12.5%. Arkansas ranks 12th of 51 here.

Working in Arkansas, medical assistants earn a median of $37,760 each year, or $18.15 for every hour they work. Median simply means the midpoint, so half of workers earn above it and half earn below. Nationally, the median is $45,690, and Arkansas comes in at 47 of 51 for median pay.

The middle half of Arkansas medical assistants earn between $35,700 and $42,900 a year:

Here are the largest job markets that include Arkansas. Memphis stretches into Tennessee and Mississippi, while Fort Smith reaches into Oklahoma, so their totals cover positions located outside the state.

By job count and median pay, Memphis leads this group, even though its market crosses state lines into Tennessee and Mississippi. In Arkansas, Little Rock has more jobs (1,660), while Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers pays a little more ($38,400).

Arkansas does not require medical assistants to hold a state certification (state board guidance). What sets the rules instead is state law (Ark. Code 17-95-208) together with Rule 31, and both cover delegation. Delegation is when a physician assigns particular duties to you and keeps responsibility for those duties.

Under those rules, you can administer drugs only at the delegating physician's office, and only drugs that do not call for substantial specialized judgment. Act 437 of 2025 also gave physician assistants the ability to delegate tasks, and a proposed revision of the rule was released for public comment in 2026.

We list 1 Arkansas school that shares its medical assistant graduate numbers with the federal education survey, and none of the state's programs is accredited by CAAHEP or ABHES. Accreditation means an outside organization has reviewed the program and confirmed that it meets set standards.

Arkansas has no CAAHEP- or ABHES-accredited program, but 14 accredited programs nationwide can be done by distance education, out of 30 distance programs in all. Coursework happens online, while the externship takes place on site. An externship is hands-on practice in a real clinic.

Length and cost differ from program to program. Among career schools that report this information, the median program length is 9 months. The median published price is $17,257 for the whole program. At public colleges, in-district students pay a median of $4,346 per year for full-time study.

With no accredited program in the state, an accredited online program is one route, so pick one on our state program page and send that school the short Request information form.

Nationally, medical assistants bring in a median of $45,690 a year. Here is how that stacks up against healthcare jobs with similar work:

When you are ready to get going, pick the program that matches your schedule on our state program page and request details from that school using the form.