Best PlacesHappy Bend, AR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Happy Bend, 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.
Happy Bend ranks 45,274th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Happy Bend
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.
Happy Bend's strengths and weaknesses
Where Happy Bend ranks high
- Cheap childcare$481 a month, better than 94% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 85% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 79% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 74% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 72% of towns
Where Happy Bend ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 4% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 8% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 9% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 12% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Happy Bend
A household needs to earn about $41,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Happy Bend home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $55,106, 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 Happy Bend's effective rate of 0.58%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Happy Bend
Happy Bend runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Happy Bend.
Who works in Happy Bend, and how
Work in Happy Bend centers on retail trade and manufacturing. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Happy Bend
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Happy Bend.
What the weather is like in Happy Bend, month by month
Happy Bend sees roughly 73 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 51, with lows near 30. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 51° | 39° | 30° |
| April | 74° | 61° | 50° |
| July | 93° | 81° | 72° |
| October | 77° | 63° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Happy Bend
The nearest airport, Bill and Hillary Clinton Ntl/Adams Field, is about 50 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Memphis International, about 162 miles away.
The best schools in and around Happy Bend
Schools across Happy Bend average a C, better than 34% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Wonderview Elementary SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Atkins Elementary SchoolC · 32% proficient
Top middle schools
- Atkins Middle SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Morrilton Intermediate SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Morrilton Sr. High SchoolC · 31% proficient
- Wonderview High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Atkins High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Happy Bend school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Happy Bend 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 Happy Bend against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Happy Bend
Is Happy Bend a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Happy Bend ranks 45,274th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, state finances, and tree cover, 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 Happy Bend expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $162,812. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $55,106 median income, cost of living beats 26% of towns.
Is Happy Bend safe?
Happy Bend is safer than 37% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $525 per resident a year.
Compare Happy Bend with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Happy Bend. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Happy Bend 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.
Happy Bend detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Happy Bend: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Happy Bend: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Happy Bend: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Happy Bend: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Happy Bend 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.