Best PlacesCaney, AR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Caney, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Caney ranks 35,195th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and summer heat is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Caney
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.
Caney's strengths and weaknesses
Where Caney ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Cheap childcare$481 a month, better than 94% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 85% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 72% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 63% of towns
Where Caney ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 9% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 10% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 12% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 13% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Caney
A household needs to earn about $50,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Caney home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $74,754, 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 Caney's effective rate of 0.65%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Caney
Caney's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Caney.
Who works in Caney, and how
Work in Caney centers on education and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Caney
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Caney.
What the weather is like in Caney, month by month
Caney sees roughly 84 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 55, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 55° | 42° | 33° |
| April | 76° | 63° | 52° |
| July | 92° | 81° | 72° |
| October | 78° | 63° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Caney
The nearest airport, Memorial Field, is about 14 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Memphis International, about 184 miles away.
The best schools in and around Caney
Schools across Caney average a B−, better than 62% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Ouachita Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Bismarck Elementary SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Peake Elementary SchoolC · 31% proficient
Top middle schools
- Bismarck Middle SchoolA− · 54% proficient
Top high schools
- Bismarck High SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Ouachita High SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Arkadelphia High SchoolD · 21% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Caney school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Caney 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 Caney against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Caney
Is Caney a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Caney ranks 35,195th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, affordable childcare, and state finances, and lowest on summer heat and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Caney expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $196,201. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $74,754 median income, cost of living beats 51% of towns.
Is Caney safe?
Caney is safer than 39% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $504 per resident a year.
Compare Caney with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Caney. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Caney 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.
Caney detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Caney: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Caney: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Caney: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Caney: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Caney 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.