Best Places72031, AR Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 72031, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

See the map of best neighborhoods

72031 ranks 28,294th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and health outcomes rank lowest.

#28,294
of 33,110 zip codes
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 33,110 zip codes
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in 72031

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 72031 area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.

72031's strengths and weaknesses

Top 5%Affordable childcare
Top 10%The weather
Top 10%Low property taxes
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare 72031 with other zip codes.

Where 72031 ranks high

  • Cheap childcare$481 a month, better than 95% of zip codes
  • Nice weatherabout 155 pleasant days a year, better than 90% of zip codes
  • Low property taxBetter than 90% of zip codes
  • State fiscal healthBetter than 86% of zip codes
  • Tree shadeBetter than 78% of zip codes

Where 72031 ranks low

  • Health outlookBetter than only 3% of zip codes
  • Household income$48,046 median, better than only 9% of zip codes
  • Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 11% of zip codes
  • Big-city accessBetter than only 12% of zip codes
  • Disaster safetyBetter than only 15% of zip codes

What it costs to buy a home in 72031

A household needs to earn about $37,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 72031 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $48,046, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$37,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$858
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $148,585 home
Median rent
$778
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$758
Property tax$51
Homeowners insurance$50

Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses 72031's effective rate of 0.41%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.

Renting versus buying

At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in 72031

72031 runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.

Median age
46
older than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
25%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.2
below the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1821%
18 to 3416%
35 to 4918%
50 to 6420%
65 and older25%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 72031.


Who works in 72031, and how

Work in 72031 centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
8%
below the national average
Unemployment
5.3%
above the national average
Job growth
+2.6%
/y 2019-2023, near the national pace

Largest industries

Retail trade18%
Health care & social16%
Construction10%
Manufacturing10%
Hospitality & food8%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 87%
  • Work from home 8%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 5%

Life in 72031

72031 has more restaurants and bars per resident than 72% of zip codes and more parkland per resident than 83% of zip codes. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of 72031 and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
38
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 53.6 per 10,000 residents, more than 72% of zip codes
Parkland
51 acres
about 7.2 acres per 1,000 residents, more than 83% of zip codes

What the weather is like in 72031, month by month

72031 sees roughly 155 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 50, with lows near 29. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January50°38°29°
April73°59°47°
July92°80°70°
October75°60°49°

Flying in and out of 72031

The nearest airport, Boone County, is about 60 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Memphis International, about 146 miles away.

Nearest airport
HRO
Boone County, about 60 miles
Airport size
Nonprimary
5 nonstop destinations
Average drive
86 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around 72031

Schools across 72031 average a B−, better than 57% of zip codes.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 72031 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


72031 measure by measure

Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare 72031 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Common questions about living in 72031

Is 72031 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 72031 ranks 28,294th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on affordable childcare, the weather, and low property taxes, and lowest on health outcomes and low incomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is 72031 expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $148,585. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $48,046 median income, cost of living beats 11% of zip codes.

Is 72031 safe?

72031 is safer than 52% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $468 per resident a year.


Compare 72031 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 72031. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 72031 represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.

72031 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 72031: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 72031: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 72031: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 72031: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

72031 detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
  2. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  3. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  4. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  5. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  6. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  7. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  8. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  9. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  10. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  12. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.