Best PlacesHelena-West Helena, AR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Helena-West Helena, 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.
Helena-West Helena ranks 49,713th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and crime is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Helena-West Helena
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.
Helena-West Helena's strengths and weaknesses
Where Helena-West Helena ranks high
- Cheap childcare$481 a month, better than 94% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 94% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 91% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 90% of towns
- Short commute20.1 minutes each way, better than 87% of towns
Where Helena-West Helena ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- School gradeD−, better than only 2% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 2% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$40,886 median, better than only 3% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Helena-West Helena
A household needs to earn about $25,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Helena-West Helena home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $40,886, 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 Helena-West Helena's effective rate of 0.84%, 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 3 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Helena-West Helena
Helena-West Helena runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Helena-West Helena.
Who works in Helena-West Helena, and how
Work in Helena-West Helena centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Helena-West Helena
Helena-West Helena has more restaurants and bars per resident than 81% of towns and more parkland per resident than 89% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Helena-West Helena and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Helena-West Helena, month by month
Helena-West Helena sees roughly 77 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 52, with lows near 36. The comfortable stretch runs March through May and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 52° | 43° | 36° |
| April | 74° | 63° | 54° |
| July | 92° | 82° | 74° |
| October | 79° | 66° | 55° |
Flying in and out of Helena-West Helena
Memphis International sits about 51 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 Helena-West Helena
Schools across Helena-West Helena average a D−, better than 2% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- J.f. Wahl Elementary SchoolD · 18% proficient
- Kipp Delta Elementary Literacy AcademyD− · 15% proficient
Top middle schools
- Kipp Delta College Preparatory SchoolF · 12% proficient
Top high schools
- Kipp Delta Collegiate High SchoolD− · 15% proficient
- Central High SchoolF · 8% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Helena-West Helena school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Helena-West Helena 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 Helena-West Helena against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Helena-West Helena
Is Helena-West Helena a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Helena-West Helena ranks 49,713th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, walkability, and a stable housing market, and lowest on crime and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Helena-West Helena expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $95,610. The overall cost of living runs about 30% below the national average. Set against a $40,886 median income, cost of living beats 10% of towns.
Is Helena-West Helena safe?
Helena-West Helena is safer than 1% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,691 per resident a year.
Compare Helena-West Helena with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Helena-West Helena. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Helena-West Helena 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.
Helena-West Helena detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Helena-West Helena: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Helena-West Helena: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Helena-West Helena: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Helena-West Helena: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Helena-West Helena 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.