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Fort Smith, Arkansas has 1 accredited school offering fire science programs, with tuition ranging from $3,342 to $5,238 per year for indexed programs. Fort Smith has a population of about 89,496. Median household income is $52,692 (Census ACS 2023, 5-year). About 25.3% of adults 25+ hold a bachelor’s degree or higher. In Arkansas, the top-earning fire science-related role is Fire Inspector and Investigator at a median $57,990 annually (BLS, May 2025).
The accredited institutions listed below are the closest in our directory that offer fire science programs near Fort Smith, ranked by BOC Score and straight-line distance from Fort Smith city center. The list is rebuilt from federal IPEDS data on every site update.
Every school list on this site is ordered by the BOC Score, computed from the most recent school-level data published by the U.S. Department of Education (College Scorecard and IPEDS). To qualify, a school must be currently operating and accredited by an agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Each eligible school is then scored on five measures, percentile-ranked against schools at the same credential level:
Schools without enough outcome data appear after ranked schools, without a score. On this page, schools are ordered by distance from Fort Smith. Advertising never affects these rankings. Read the full methodology.
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source: IPEDS / College Scorecard (2023 cohort). Browse all Arkansas schools on the Arkansas fire science page.
Fort Smith is part of the Fort Smith, AR-OK metro area (BLS area code 22900). Where MSA-level wages are published, the table below shows MSA medians; otherwise it falls back to Arkansas statewide.
| Occupation | Median Wage | Source | COL-Adjusted (US=100) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Firefighter | $35,990 | Fort Smith, AR-OK | $41,898 |
| First-Line Supervisor of Firefighting and Prevention Workers | $50,550 | Fort Smith, AR-OK | $58,847 |
| Fire Inspector and Investigator | $57,990 | AR statewide | $67,509 |
| Emergency Management Director | $50,180 | AR statewide | $58,417 |
Source: BLS, May 2025 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes wage data at the metro (MSA) and state level – not by individual city.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Population | 89,496 | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B01003) |
| Median household income | $52,692 | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B19013) |
| Adults 25+ with bachelor’s+ | 25.3% | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B15003) |
| Regional Price Parity (US=100) | 85.9 (below U.S. average) | BEA RPP 2024 |
Our directory has 1 accredited schools offering fire science programs near Fort Smith. The closest is NorthWest Arkansas Community College in Bentonville, AR (70.5 miles), and the farthest of the schools shown is NorthWest Arkansas Community College (70.5 miles). 1 of the highlighted schools is flagged as offering distance education.
Based on BLS OEWS May 2025 wage data, the top-paying fire science-related roles near Fort Smith are: Fire Inspector and Investigator ($57,990), First-Line Supervisor of Firefighting and Prevention Workers ($50,550), Emergency Management Director ($50,180). These reflect MSA-level medians where published, with Arkansas statewide fallback for occupations not reported at the metro level.
Van Buren, AR is 6.9 miles from Fort Smith and has its own set of local fire science programs – see the city’s page. For online programs, distance matters less; for hybrid or in-person formats, comparing both can help.
Fort Smith’s median household income of $52,692 (Census ACS 2023) is one input. Online programs let students stay in Fort Smith while attending lower-cost out-of-state schools, and Arkansas public universities often offer reduced in-state online tuition.
Confirm institutional accreditation via the U.S. Department of Education database (U.S. Dept. of Education database), and check for any program-specific accreditation listed by the school.
Compare every accredited online degree program with city-level data for Fort Smith:
Data verified: August 11, 2026. Salary, employment, and tuition figures on this page are sourced from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS May 2025; Employment Projections 2024–2034) and the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard (2023 cohort). The source agency and data year are cited inline with every statistic.
Back to Best Fire Science Schools in Arkansas: Online Programs (2026)
