Best PlacesCraighead County, AR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Craighead County, 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.
Craighead County ranks 1,712th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on cell coverage and fast internet. The weaker spots are noise, civic engagement, and the weather.
The best neighborhoods in Craighead County
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 Craighead County
The parts of Craighead County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Jonesboro
It is quieter, more households have young kids, and local pay stretches further.
Lake City
Bono
Homes cost less, though fewer adults hold degrees.
Brookland
More residents vote, though tree cover is thinner.
Scores across Craighead County run from about the 3rd to the 87th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Craighead County's strengths and weaknesses
Craighead County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Cell coverage, fast internet, and state finances carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Noise, civic engagement, and the weather hold the score down. That varies block to block rather than evenly, and the map below shows where.
Where Craighead County ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 86% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than 86% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than 82% of counties
- Short commute19.6 minutes each way, better than 81% of counties
- BikingBetter than 77% of counties
Where Craighead County ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 6% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 9% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 68 pleasant days a year, better than only 17% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 20% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 22% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Craighead County
A household needs to earn about $54,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Craighead County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $68,676, 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 Craighead County's effective rate of 0.53%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Craighead County
Craighead County runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Craighead County.
Who works in Craighead County, and how
Work in Craighead County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Craighead County
Craighead County has less parkland per resident than most counties and more late-night spots per resident than 78% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Craighead County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Craighead County growing, and who is moving in?
Craighead County has grown about 13% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Little Rock, AR.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Craighead County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Craighead County, month by month
Craighead County sees roughly 68 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 32. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 39° | 32° |
| April | 73° | 61° | 52° |
| July | 92° | 82° | 74° |
| October | 76° | 64° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Craighead County
Memphis International sits about 67 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 2.4 million passengers in 2025, with 78 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Craighead County
Schools across Craighead County average a C, better than 32% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Valley View Intermediate SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Riverside West Elem. SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Buffalo Is. Central East Elem.B · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- Valley View Junior High SchoolA− · 57% proficient
- Brookland Junior High SchoolB− · 39% proficient
- Westside Middle SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
Top high schools
- Valley View High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Riverside High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Bay High SchoolC · 32% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Craighead County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Craighead County 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 Craighead County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Craighead County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 8% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Craighead County
Is Craighead County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Craighead County ranks 1,712th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on cell coverage, fast internet, and state finances, and lowest on noise and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Craighead County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $215,573. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $68,676 median income, cost of living beats 69% of counties.
Is Craighead County safe?
Craighead County is safer than 48% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $532 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Craighead County?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 48 with lows near 32. That works out to about 68 pleasant days a year, more than 17% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Craighead County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Jonesboro, Lake City, and Bono. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Craighead County good for families?
Schools beat 32% of counties, crime safety beats 48%, and childcare runs $671 a month.
Is Craighead County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 69% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 86% of counties. About 8% of workers already work from home.
Compare Craighead County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Craighead County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Craighead County 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.
Craighead County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Craighead County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Craighead County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Craighead County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Craighead County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Craighead County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.