Best PlacesBentonville, AR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Bentonville, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Costs and crime read low across the board, which puts the choice down to which part suits you. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Bentonville ranks 323rd of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a strong job market by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Bentonville
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.
The best areas in Bentonville
The parts of Bentonville, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first.
Oxford Ridge & Wildwood
Heathrow
Riverwalk Farms Estates, Cornerstone Ridge & Eagle Creek
Willow Bend
Metro Park North
Moberly Place
Scores across Bentonville run from about the 24th to the 98th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Bentonville's strengths and weaknesses
Where Bentonville ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 97% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than 92% of cities
- Cheap childcare$671 a month, better than 91% of cities
- Short commute19.3 minutes each way, better than 90% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 85% of cities
Where Bentonville ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 11% of cities
- TransitBetter than only 13% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 17% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than only 25% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 26% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Bentonville
A household needs to earn about $112,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bentonville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $119,568, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
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 Bentonville's effective rate of 0.67%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Bentonville
Bentonville runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Bentonville.
Who works in Bentonville, and how
Work in Bentonville centers on retail trade and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Bentonville
Bentonville has more restaurants and bars per resident than 85% of cities and more parkland per resident than 97% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Bentonville and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Bentonville, month by month
Bentonville sees roughly 80 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 47, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 47° | 36° | 28° |
| April | 70° | 59° | 49° |
| July | 90° | 80° | 71° |
| October | 73° | 61° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Bentonville
The nearest airport, Northwest Arkansas Ntl, is about 7 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kansas City International, about 205 miles away.
The best schools in and around Bentonville
Schools across Bentonville average a B+, better than 76% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Willowbrook Elementary SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
- Evening Star Elementary SchoolA · 69% proficient
- Elm Tree Elementary SchoolA · 66% proficient
Top middle schools
- Bright Field Middle SchoolA+ · 72% proficient
- J William Fulbright Junior High SchoolA+ · 71% proficient
- Washington Junior High SchoolA · 62% proficient
Top high schools
- Haas Hall BentonvilleA+ · 87% proficient
- Founders Classical Academies Of Arkansas High School RogersB+ · 58% proficient
- Bentonville High SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bentonville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bentonville 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 Bentonville against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Bentonville suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 84% of cities, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 20% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Bentonville
Is Bentonville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bentonville ranks 323rd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on a strong job market, state finances, and affordable childcare, and lowest on distance from a big city and transit. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Bentonville expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $437,586. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $119,568 median income, cost of living beats 84% of cities.
Is Bentonville safe?
Yes, Bentonville is safer than 76% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $371 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Bentonville?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 47 with lows near 28. That works out to about 80 pleasant days a year, more than 43% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Bentonville?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Oxford Ridge & Wildwood, Heathrow, and Riverwalk Farms Estates, Cornerstone Ridge & Eagle Creek. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Bentonville with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bentonville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bentonville 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.
Bentonville detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bentonville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bentonville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bentonville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bentonville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bentonville detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- 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.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.