Asphalt driveway cost in Little Rock, AR

How Little Rock compares

Of the five closest metros, 3 are cheaper than Little Rock. Fort Smith is the lowest at about $4,450 (midpoint, 600 sq ft), 125 miles away.

Across 300 US metros, Little Rock comes in at #282 from the top. The priciest is Kahului, HI at $7,650; the cheapest is Fort Smith, AR at $4,450 (midpoints, 600 sq ft). Statewide, Little Rock is 1% above the Arkansas figure.

Other Arkansas metros

Cities with a workforce like Little Rock's

Big cities and small ones price differently, so here is Little Rock against the 4 metros with the closest total employment.

Pick a size, pick a tier: asphalt driveway pricing in Little Rock

Three bands are cut from the same cited range and localized for Little Rock wages and prices. They overlap on purpose: a good standard job and a modest premium job can cost the same. The grid below prices the same bands at 4 common sizes.

Planning more than one job in Little Rock?

Because every project leans on different trades, Little Rock's wage level does not move all prices equally. Against the US midpoint, paver patio runs −11% and concrete driveway −16%.

Local wages behind the labor line

Wages are the part of this estimate that changes most from town to town. 3 trades carry the job here, and each is compared with its US median. The weighted result for Little Rock is 0.82 times the national level.

For paving, surfacing and tamping equipment operators (47-2071, weighted 40%) the local median is $22.38 an hour, which is 13% below the national $25.64. The middle half of them earn between $18.01 and $22.94 an hour. BLS counts 140 of them working in the area, 3.9 for every 10,000 jobs (US: 2.7), so the local bench is deeper than average.

Construction laborers (47-2061), 30% of the weighting: a median of $17.88 an hour, 21% below the US median of $22.66. The middle half of them earn between $16.75 and $20.34 an hour. About 2,790 work in the metro. That is 77.9 per 10,000 jobs, compared with 70.5 nationally, so the supply of crews looks typical.

For operating engineers and other construction equipment operators (47-2073, weighted 30%) the local median is $22.25 an hour, which is 23% below the national $28.78. The middle half of them earn between $19.43 and $23.95 an hour. BLS counts 1,230 of them working in the area, 34.3 for every 10,000 jobs (US: 30.7), so the local bench is about average.

Quotes come from real crews, not medians. If the paving, surfacing and tamping equipment operators on your job are paid at the 75th percentile ($22.94 an hour) instead of the median, the labor line grows by about $20. At the 25th percentile ($18.01) it shrinks by about $150. The total moves by 0.4% or 3.1%, so wages alone rarely explain a quote that is far outside our range.

For context on the local economy, BLS counts 358,210 jobs in the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway area. That makes it the 72nd largest of the 300 metros we cover, with 0.23% of US employment.

Optional extras in Little Rock

Extras are quoted nationally and then scaled to Little Rock by the average of the local wage index (0.82) and goods index (0.94), a factor of 0.88. Tick any of them in the estimator above to add them to your total. Treat these as planning figures: an add-on touches different trades than the main job, so the scaling is an approximation.

Why two Little Rock quotes can differ

• Base work

  Four to eight inches of compacted aggregate under the asphalt is where cheap quotes cut corners. Base typically runs $1-$3 per sq ft.

• Small jobs cost more per foot

  Paving crews move a paver, roller and trucks to your address, so a 400 sq ft driveway carries more mobilization per square foot than a 1,000 sq ft one.

• Hot-mix price

  Hot-mix asphalt is $100-$200 per ton delivered and moves with oil prices (PaveGauge).

When to schedule asphalt driveway in Little Rock

We use NOAA's 1991-2020 climate normals for Little Rock Ap Adams Fld (5 miles from the city center). These are 30-year monthly averages, not forecasts.

February through June and September through December are the stretches where digging, grading and setting material in the ground runs into the fewest weather problems in Little Rock (9 of 12 months). January has an average overnight low at or below freezing (32°F); July and August have an average daytime high of 90°F or more.

In January the average low is at or below freezing, which means frozen ground and slower digging, compaction and sod or stone placement. NOAA counts about 50 days a year with a low at or below 32°F at this station.

Little Rock gets about 50 inches of precipitation in a normal year, including roughly 4 inches of snow. The wettest months are April, May and December (5.6 inches in April). Inside the workable window, June and September are the driest, at 3.5 and 3.0 inches. The station averages about 76 days a year at 90°F or above.

Does the season change the price? Probably, but we do not have a sourced seasonal price curve, so the estimator shows a year-round figure and does not adjust by month. When you collect quotes, ask whether scheduling in a slower month gets a better rate.