Best PlacesCotter, AR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cotter, 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.
Cotter ranks 43,888th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and low incomes rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Cotter
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.
Cotter's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cotter ranks high
- Short commute16.3 minutes each way, better than 96% of towns
- Cheap childcare$481 a month, better than 94% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 88% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 85% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 78% of towns
Where Cotter ranks low
- Household income$43,406 median, better than only 3% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 6% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 11% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 12% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Cotter
A household needs to earn about $46,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cotter home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $43,406; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Cotter's effective rate of 0.40%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Cotter
Cotter 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 Cotter.
Who works in Cotter, and how
Work in Cotter centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Cotter
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Cotter.
What the weather is like in Cotter, month by month
Cotter sees roughly 73 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49° | 37° | 28° |
| April | 72° | 59° | 48° |
| July | 92° | 80° | 70° |
| October | 75° | 61° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Cotter
The nearest airport, Boone County, is about 35 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Memphis International, about 167 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cotter
Schools across Cotter average a C+, better than 48% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Amanda Gist Elementary SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Flippin Elementary SchoolD+ · 23% proficient
Top middle schools
- Flippin Middle SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Top high schools
- Cotter High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Flippin High SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cotter school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cotter 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 Cotter against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Cotter
Is Cotter a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cotter ranks 43,888th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, affordable childcare, and low property taxes, and lowest on low incomes and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cotter expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $186,149. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $43,406 median income, cost of living beats 6% of towns.
Is Cotter safe?
Yes, Cotter is safer than 56% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $418 per resident a year.
Compare Cotter with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cotter. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cotter 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.
Cotter detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cotter: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cotter: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cotter: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cotter: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cotter 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.