Best PlacesCord, AR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cord, 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.
Cord ranks 39,426th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Cord
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.
Cord's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cord ranks high
- Cheap childcare$481 a month, better than 94% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 88% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 85% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 76% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 72% of towns
Where Cord ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 10% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 13% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 13% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 14% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Cord
A household needs to earn about $52,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cord home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $61,965, 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 Cord's effective rate of 0.51%, 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 Cord
Cord runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Cord.
Who works in Cord, and how
Work in Cord centers on retail trade and education. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 94%
- Work from home 2%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Cord
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Cord.
What the weather is like in Cord, month by month
Cord sees roughly 78 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 31. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 38° | 31° |
| April | 72° | 60° | 50° |
| July | 92° | 81° | 72° |
| October | 75° | 62° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Cord
The nearest airport, Bill and Hillary Clinton Ntl/Adams Field, is about 91 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Memphis International, about 94 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cord
Schools across Cord average a C−, better than 23% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Sulphur Rock Magnet SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Hillcrest Elementary SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Tuckerman Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Swifton Middle SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Cave City Middle School Career And Collegiate PreparatoryB− · 41% proficient
Top high schools
- Tuckerman High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Hillcrest High SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Cave City High Career & Collegiate Preparatory SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cord school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cord 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 Cord against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Cord
Is Cord a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cord ranks 39,426th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, a stable housing market, and state finances, and lowest on civic engagement and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cord expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $205,600. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $61,965 median income, cost of living beats 38% of towns.
Is Cord safe?
Cord is safer than 41% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $485 per resident a year.
Compare Cord with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cord. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cord 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.
Cord detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cord: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cord: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cord: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cord: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cord 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.